Rail unions say they will put counteroffer to stave off Sydney train chaos, but there’s a catch

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Haylen conceded the “threshold is high” to convince Fair Work to intervene, but the government was preparing evidence to bolster its case of the “incalculable” hit to the economy and community harm.

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She said the cost of cancelling a weekend of rail repair work alone could be up to $10 million. “There is a large cumulative cost to these industrial actions,” she said.

The government has offered rail workers a 14 per cent pay rise over four years, which includes a 1 per cent rise from savings from merging the state’s two passenger rail operators. Haylen has said that it was a “final pay offer”.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union and five other unions have been seeking a 32 per cent pay rise over four years.

As NSW’s railway recovers from crippling industrial action, train services on the suburban rail network recovered to 93 per cent on-time running on Friday morning, a vast improvement on the two prior days, when more than 2500 trains were cancelled.

Six intercity trains on the Central Coast and Newcastle line were cancelled on Friday morning due to earlier delays to safety-critical work at Gosford.

Commuters at Wynyard Station on Thursday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said it was pleasing to see performance improve across the rail network, but the operator was facing challenges that would take time to resolve.

“This isn’t something you can flick a switch on. Fleet reliability, infrastructure reliability and also the record number of temporary speed restrictions across the network … are slowing our services,” he said.

More than 50 temporary speed restrictions were in place across the train network on Friday due to a build-up of missed maintenance.

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On Friday morning, commuters vented their frustration after two days of commuting hell. Many Sydneysiders were late to work, missed shifts, or just stayed at home to avoid the chaos this week.

Axel Greer chose to drive to work on Thursday to avoid the train chaos, after it took him three hours to reach Blacktown from Marrickville the previous day. “But I’d heard they’ve cancelled the strike, so I’m back on the train today,” he said at Strathfield station on Friday.

Asked about the industrial dispute, he admitted he had not been following it closely. “But I do think it’s unreasonable, especially given other public sector pay,” he said.

Cleaner Punam Adhikari, who commutes from Harris Park to Epping, said the pay increase sought by rail workers was “too much”.

She said the delays to train services caused by the industrial action were unreasonable for people who rely on public transport to get to work. “If we’re late, we are threatened with dismissal,” she said.

The state government is considering giving commuters refunds or a free travel day as compensation for this week’s extreme delays.

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