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Passengers at Central Station faced significant delays getting home. (Twitter: @Mariam_Chelab)
Commuters have faced major delays after a train broke down during peak hour tonight, causing an unwanted headache for the State Government less than two weeks out from the election.
Key points:
- The T3 Bankstown Line and T8 Airport and South Line are the worst affected
- Passengers crammed Platforms 22 and 23 and stairwells at Central Station
- The delays are due to a train requiring repairs to its grip gear near Museum Station
Irate passengers expressed their frustration on social media as pictures emerged of crowds gathered on Central Station’s platforms 22 and 23, as well as the stairs leading to them.
“Central station platforms 22 and 23 looking like the deck of the Titanic as they load the last lifeboats,” tweeted Amanda Yeo.
“I’ve been standing here for 30 minutes and told it could be up to two-hour delays,” tweeted Aaron, who was travelling on the T4 Eastern suburbs and Illawarra line.
Kristina Wilson said it took one hour to get to Central after she was stuck on a train in the tunnel between Museum and Wynyard.
Another passenger, who did not wish to be named, told the ABC he spent 35 minutes on a train in the tunnel between Wynyard and St James.
ABC journalist Mariam Chehab tweeted that there had been “no information or updates”.
“People are walking down the stairs squeezing between people — how is this safe?” she said.
In a statement, Transport NSW said the delays were a result of a train requiring repairs to its grip gear near Museum Station about 5:25pm.
“Passenger had been allowed to disembark at Central Station as a safety precaution,” the statement read.
“Regular and frequent services on the T3 Bankstown Line and T8 Airport and South Line have resumed but customers are advised to allow extra travel time.”
Buses are supplementing some train services between Campbelltown and Macarthur.
Opposition transport spokeswoman Jodi McKay said it was yet another train “meltdown” on the network.
“The system simply can’t cope when there is a problem — one problem — on the network,” she said.
“This is a train system … that is not the world’s best.
“There should not be trains breaking down during peak hour on the metro service.”
Ms McKay said under Labor, commuters would be refunded their Opal fare during such an “avoidable delay”.
A Sydney Trains document leaked in 2017, following the introduction of a new timetable, warned delays to trains following peak-hour incidents were likely to be “cumulative and irrecoverable”.
Referring to the document, Ms McKay said transport Minister Andrew Constance knew the timetable did not allow recovery time and the result was that “once again commuters are facing chaos”.
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