Sydney Trains review finds system failure risk was detected but not repaired

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A scathing report into Sydney Trains has suggested incompetence among senior management during a major network meltdown in May. It found that the overhead wire that fell onto a train, plunging services into chaos, had been identified as a risk in 2020 but was not repaired. The NSW transport minister said the state government accepted all 12 recommendations made with a $458.4 million maintenance blitz to come.

Transcript

00:00When a high voltage wire came down on this city bound train, anxious passengers were

00:08stranded on board for three hours and the network was plunged into chaos for two days.

00:14The recovery and repair times blew out at almost every juncture.

00:18People were left trapped on trains for far too long and with little care.

00:23This review gives a very blunt assessment but it's one the public deserves to be able to read.

00:29It found regular maintenance inspections failed to pick up that the wire was thin and beyond breaking limits

00:35because they were carried out with binoculars.

00:38An issue with the wire had been detected in 2020 during a trial of new technology but it was never followed up.

00:46The report also describes a disturbing absence of effective communications to stranded passengers.

00:52We let passengers down during that incident in May and I do apologise for what they had to experience over those two days.

01:01It took 13 hours for repairs to begin and nearly 1300 services ended up cancelled or delayed.

01:08Sydney trains in dealing with it took far too long and really we probably should have had trains running normally the next morning.

01:17Much of the blame was laid on managers at the Rail Operations Centre in Alexandria which is supposed to act as the network's nerve centre.

01:25The report found a lack of qualifications in the operations of the railway and the safety procedures and rules.

01:32I have made a number of changes to the leadership both in engineering and also in operations and people have left the organisation.

01:40The government has pledged to implement all the report's recommendations and spend nearly half a billion dollars fixing the issues.

01:47But the opposition says it shows how much the network has deteriorated on the government's watch.

01:52Defects are the highest on record under Chris Mintz.

01:57Sydney trains will now change the way it does maintenance to prioritise critical junctions

02:02and the binoculars will be ditched in favour of laser technology to inspect wires.

02:10Defence of駅

02:14Sydney trains will check on the left and south of the Bernd to follow a new railway network which is called the railway network.

02:17But theerosene has Renault-EREAL.

02:18Sydney trains are on record ofёр-catandre-OSHEA organisation.

02:20Sydney trains is on record of 7th Major-catandre-Jetra.

02:21Sydney trains are on record of 5th Major-catandre-Jetra.

02:24Sydney trains are on record of 5th Major-catandre-Jetra.

02:25Sydney trains are on record of 4th Major-catandre-Jetra.

02:27Sydney trains have a private network and this one can be released.

02:29Sydney trains are on record of 5th and this one we don't think of the reverse of the EUA.

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