Sydney train commuters will endure a year of weekend disruptions as Premier Chris Minns says it’s time “to bite the bullet” on a $97 million backlog of overdue maintenance.
The blitz on the beleaguered rail system will be done “mainly on weekends and certainly out of peak hours”, Mr Minns told Sydney radio 2GB on Monday.
“We need to do this … because maintenance on the railway networks is at an all-time low,” he said.
About 80 per cent of Sydney trains were running on time but that figure should be 95 per cent, he said.
“That’s because there hasn’t been enough money put into maintenance,” Mr Minns added.
“We’ve just got to bite the bullet and get on with it.”
Transport Minister Jo Haylen revealed on Sunday a major review of the system found several years’ worth of critical maintenance was required to prevent things from getting worse.
The review made 12 recommendations for restoring reliability to the network, which has suffered repeated meltdowns.
A new timetable introduced in 2017 was found to be responsible for the huge backlog of work and repairs because it left very little time for workers to gain access to tracks.
“Anyone in Sydney will tell you the train network isn’t working as it should,” Ms Haylen said.
Buses would be substituted for at least a year when tracks were being repaired.
Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland said there would be “significant track works over the next few months” but promised there would be a concerted effort to minimise disruption for commuters.
“We will be doing one section at a time,” he told Nine’s Today program.
“We will publish a calendar …. three months out. People can check …. what might be coming up.”
– AAP
