Rail Chaos Set To Continue As Transport Dispute Escalates

Sydney's disastrous rail dispute continues despite a skeleton network of trains running to support essential workers.

Transport Minister David Elliott announced late on Monday night, a limited number of trains would run every 30 minutes to support the state's front line and essential workers, after a “very productive” meeting with the rail union.

After “some full and frank exchanges but (was conducted with) great mutual respect,” Mr Elliott said, "We’re working together to resolve as many issues as we can.”

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It follows Monday's debacle which resulted all trains suspended amid an ongoing industrial dispute between the state government and the rail union, where both parties had failed to reach an agreement.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Mr Elliott, on Monday deflected the blame, instead saying that the government was left with no choice but to shut down the network, declaring that the unions and Labor were “in bed together”.

“I’m incredibly disappointed. I feel the anger of everybody across our city. Make no mistake, this is a co-ordinated attack by the Labor Party and the union,” Perrottet said yesterday.

Meantime, Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) secretary Alex Claassens said the government’s decision to shut down the network, over safety issues was “absolute rubbish”.

“We’re all professionals here. We’ve been running the railway for many, many years. We would never, ever do anything that would knowingly, or even by accident, jeopardise safety on our network,” he said.

“So, any bullshit argument they’ve got that it was unsafe is just ridiculous.”

The RTBU said they were hopeful that the transport minister would “do the right thing” at Tuesday's meeting.

“The last two times that I’ve met with him he has been able to move some things along," Mr Claassens said. "All we need is somebody to sit at the table, negotiate properly with us, put some guarantees into an enterprise agreement. It ain’t rocket science.”

Meantime, Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland warned that serious disruptions across the rail network would likely continue throughout the week.

“We are working hard to try to get a basic level of service … but it does rely on the union agreeing to it,” Mr Longland said.

With the unions playing hardball and Perrottet playing politics, it seems no one is prepared to come to the table with a reasonable solution for everyone.

Trains across all Sydney and intercity lines were back up and running as of 5am Tuesday, however, trains will stop at all stations and run 30 minutes apart.

Meanwhile, fewer services will be available for commuters on the intercity south coast line between Kiama and Wollongong and those between Port Kembla and Wollongong.

A Fair Work Commission hearing resumes on Wednesday.

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