Sydney is facing a citywide rail shutdown from Friday. Picture: ANDREW KACIMAIWAI
Sydney residents will be without rail services for more than two days as of Friday due to industrial action by the Rail Tram and Bus Union.
NSW Transport Minister Jo Heylan confirmed to media on Tuesday that there would be no train services.
The strike was due to start tomorrow (Thursday) but was reportedly pushed back to Friday to allow fans to attend a Pearl Jam concert.
Media reports say the union wants the government to run all rail lines around the clock from Thursday to Sunday but a compromise 24-hour trial service between Hornsby and Strathfield was rejected.
Haylen said the union’s demand was unviable and rejected the government’s compromise on Tuesday.
“If we continue to try and run 24-hour services over the weekend, that fact is that it will eventually lead to the failure of our rail network,” she told media.
City-wide and inter-city services are expected to be affected.
Replacement bus and ferry capacity is expected to be tested to the limit, NSW Transport officials say.
Heylan said it would cause “major disruption for millions of train passengers”.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said the strike would cause major delays across a rail network which carries one million people per day.
“At this point we have to prepare for no train services,” he told journalists.
“I’m asking people to think about travelling well outside the peak, to make alternative arrangements, to plan well ahead.”
METRO CLOSED
Longland says Sydney Trains is working with Sydney Metro for more services but the Metro will be closed on the weekend for maintenance.
“That will be an additional factor as we look towards the weekend that we will not have Metro services to augment a stoppage at Sydney trains,” he told journalists.
Meanwhile, thousands are expected to visit Sydney Olympic Park on Thursday for the concert, the cause of the strike’s delay.
The union’s demands for three days of 24-hour train services are part of its enterprise agreement with the government which expired six months ago.
Longland says fans should make alternative travel plans.
“We will have no major event buses at this stage, we will reply on car parks, carpooling and ride share services,” he said.
The union is pushing for better pay and conditions.
The Labor Government offered the 14,000 rail workers wage increases of 3.5 per cent in the first year, 3 per cent in the second and 3 per cent in the third, below the union’s demand for a 32 per cent pay rise over four years.
