The state’s transport chief Josh Murray said on Monday that the Bankstown line’s closure will be “very disruptive” for commuters. His warning follows revelations that Sydney does not have enough bus drivers or buses to cover the additional 1400 services needed every weekday to replace trains on the line.
Bankstown line passengers will be forced into the nightmare of catching replacement buses along congested roads.Edwina Pickles
“The closure of the Bankstown line – the T3 – is one of the most technical and complex operations we will undertake,” he said. “We expect big delays for our customers. We’re asking for their patience.”
The replacement buses will have to carry up to 60,000 passengers each weekday during the of the line between Bankstown and Sydenham from as early as July to allow it to be converted to handle driverless trains. It will become the final section of the $21.6 billion line.
Transport for NSW is due to shortly award contracts for the additional 1400 services needed every weekday to replace trains,and Murray said the agency was considering “creative measures” to shift commuters during the shutdown.
He signalled that those measures could entail express services to the CBD or other train hubs,or all-stops services for shorter journeys.
The rail line between Bankstown and Sydenham will be closed for a year from about July.Kate Geraghty
A new train timetable will also be introduced in the middle of the year to support the Bankstown line closure and incorporate the main section of the new Metro City and Southwest line between Chatswood and Sydenham into the broader rail network. The metro line is due to open around the middle of this year.
Memories are still fresh of the widespread cancellations and delays to Sydney’s train services in the months after a was rolled out in late 2017 under the previous Coalition government.
Rail,Tram and Bus Union divisional secretary David Babineau said the new rail timetable would cause problems because it had to link up with the bus network,which was not running to schedule.
Sydney’s bus driver shortage has fallen to about 250 people,from 500 a year ago.
However,Babineau said the problem was that extra drivers needed for the replacement bus services during the Bankstown line’s closure had to be drawn from Sydney’s existing pool of drivers.
“There is only one pool of drivers. At the end of the day,you are taking away from one hand to give to another,” he said.
Babineau,who is a member of the state government’s bus industry taskforce,argued the Bankstown line shutdown should be postponed for at least 12 months until the “labour market sorts itself out”.
Inner West Council Labor mayor Darcy Byrne said management of the line’s closure would be a massive challenge and posed “enormous potential disruption”.
The existing heavy rail line between Bankstown and Sydenham is being converted to carry driverless metro trains.Kate Geraghty
“With the traffic chaos of the Rozelle interchange opening,we are wary to make sure that another major disruption to our local traffic network is carefully managed and problems fully mitigated in advance,” he said.
Byrne said he would be holding the government to its commitment to consult the council and the community closely in planning for replacement bus services.
Coalition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said the number one priority for Transport for NSW and the government needed to be the recruitment and retention of bus drivers to support a challenging period for commuters.
“When the Metro Southwest conversion proceeds,the government would have had nearly 18 months to prepare for it,” she said.
However,Murray said the government had insisted that the Bankstown line would not be closed until it was satisfied that the main section of the Metro City and Southwest line between Chatswood and Sydenham was operating reliably.
“The government has been very clear:you have to have the Metro up and running very smoothly to provide that additional option for people in the southwest,” he said.
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