The city’s entire rail network was shut down on Monday after the state’s transport agency made the decision to suspend all services when negotiations over rostering between the government and the rail union broke down over the weekend.
Long queues for buses at Central as commuters try to get home on Monday evening.Edwina Pickles
Late on Monday night,Transport Minister David Elliott announced a skeleton network of trains running every 30 minutes would operate for essential workers,after Mr Perrottet directed the boss of Sydney Trains to pull out all stops to ensure the network was back up and running on Tuesday.
Government officials and the rail union failed to reach a breakthrough agreement at an industrial hearing earlier on Monday,with the Fair Work hearing adjourned until Wednesday morning.
The government is facing months of tense industrial relations in the lead up to next year’s election,amid increasingly bitter pay disputes with frontline workers,including nurses and teachers.
A senior government source confirmed that Mr Perrottet had no idea about the shutdown and believed on Sunday night that trains would still be running in the morning.
Sydney trains could face further cancellations as unions and the NSW government failed to reach a resolution on Monday.Wolter Peeters
While transport officials and the rail union indicated a willingness to resume some basic services on Tuesday,Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland warned that there would likely be serious disruptions across the rail network.
“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,adding that it also planned to put on an extra 160 buses on Tuesday.
Monday’s shutdown prompted an immediate attack from Mr Perrottet and Mr Elliott,who blamed the union,saying the government was left with no choice but to shut down the network amid safety concerns from the protected industrial action.
However,senior ministers are convinced that Mr Elliott,who was in Darwin for part of the weekend in his capacity as Veterans’ Affairs Minister,should have had better control of the situation.
The shutdown of Sydney’s train services on Monday left thousands stranded.Kate Geraghty
As Transport Minister,Mr Elliott has the authority to sign off on an order to shut down the network,however late on Monday night he insisted the decision was not made by him.
“I was informed of this action by Transport for NSW after the decision had been made by senior bureaucrats,” Mr Elliott said in a statement.
In a radio interview on Monday morning,Mr Elliott sensationally accused the union of engaging in “terrorist-like activity” before insisting later in the day that he had never made such a claim.
Mr Elliott also told 2GB’s Ben Fordham that voters would prefer driverless trains rather than be inconvenienced by industrial action.
The shutdown of all Sydney Trains and TrainLink services left tens of thousands of commuters stranded at stations on Monday morning as they absorbed the news of the shutdown.
Rail,Tram and Bus Union NSW secretary Alex Claassens said the government had effectively locked out rail staff who were “ready,willing and available to work”.
Late-night industrial action has seen Sydney trains grind to a halt,sparking commuter chaos.
“Someone in the government needs to make the decision to give us back our trains and let us run the service. The travelling public of NSW deserve better than this,” he said.
“We will meet with anybody and negotiate as long as they respectively listen to our issues and do something to resolve it. It is about time the government came to the table and negotiated in good faith.”
Transport Minister David Elliott attacked unions for the disruption,but they blamed the government and said workers are willing to work.James Alcock
Mr Elliott said Tuesday's limited train services should only be used by people without other transport alternatives. As well as replacement buses,two pop-up commuter car parks at Moore Park and Rosehill Gardens will provide “park and walk” options for people to reach the CBD.
Despite Mr Elliott signing off on Sydney Trains’ decision in the early hours of Monday to suspend the network,the Transport Minister accused the rail union of hijacking the city.
“It’s the people of NSW that have been inconvenienced today,it’s the people of NSW that have had their lives disrupted today unnecessarily,” he said.
Asked whether he took any responsibility for the major disruption to commuters,Mr Elliott said:“The buck stops with me. I’m the Transport Minister,which is why I’m horrified that an agreement made on Saturday afternoon that could have been clarified last night,therefore avoiding the industrial action this morning,has occurred.”
Earlier,he told 2GB that the union should not “use the city’s transport system for some sort of terrorist-like activity”.
Despite efforts to put on a basic service on Tuesday,Sydney Trains warned commuters delays would be inevitable on Tuesday. “We will work into the evening[on Monday] if that is what is required to look at what we can do to get trains running again tomorrow across Sydney,” Mr Longland said late on Monday.
“Even if we are able to resolve this issue,we will still see impacts across the network[on Tuesday].”
Mr Longland said he stood by his decision to suspend the entire rail network on Monday,which was based on concerns that safety would be compromised.
“There was no risk of trains crashing into each other or running off the rails;what we were concerned about was customer safety,” Mr Longland said.
However,a lawyer representing the rail union told the Fair Work Commission hearing on Monday afternoon that it could not understand the rationale behind the government’s decision to shut down the network.
Earlier on Monday,Mr Perrottet launched a scathing attack on the rail union,saying the government had been left with no choice but to shut down the network.
“I’m incredibly disappointed. I feel the anger of everybody across our city. Make no mistake:this is a coordinated attack by the Labor Party and the union,” he said.
However,Labor leader Chris Minns said commuters had been left stranded at stations without explanation from the government,which had shut down the rail network “without there actually even being a strike on”.
with Josh Dye
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