Sydney Trains

[ozbob]

#Metro our suggested structure based on the PTA of WA is a lot different from NSW.  Sydney Trains is buried in the massive Transport for NSW, somewhat akin to our failed structures.  PTV (Victoria) is better, but the PTA WA model delivers.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/957659228012929025

[#Metro]

#Metro our suggested structure based on the PTA of WA is a lot different from NSW.  Sydney Trains is buried in the massive Transport for NSW, somewhat akin to our failed structures.  PTV (Victoria) is better, but the PTA WA model delivers.

But what are the main differences? It is not surprising that it is big because NSW is big also. It looks very similar to the highly successful Auckland Transport structure. It also looks similar to Transport for Canberra, another agency that has had lots of reforms to their transport network in terms of bus reform and delivering Light Rail.

Transport for NSW

Our mandate is to reform, legislate and ensure the safety of public transport.
Transport for NSW is the lead agency of the NSW Transport cluster. Our role is to lead the development of a safe, efficient, integrated transport system that keeps people and goods moving, connects communities and shapes the future of our cities, centres and regions.

We are responsible for strategy, planning, policy, regulation, funding allocation and other non-service delivery functions for all modes of transport in NSW including road, rail, ferry, light rail, point to point, regional air, cycling and walking.

We focus on improving the customer experience and contract public and private operators to deliver customer-focused transport services on our behalf.

We also lead the procurement of transport infrastructure and oversee delivery through project delivery offices and industry delivery partners.

Sydney Trains Corporate Plan
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/media/documents/2017/sydney-trains-corporate-plan-2016-17.pdf

Sydney Trains operates under a Rail Service Contract with Transport for NSW. The contract
stipulates the NSW Government's expectations around service levels, and sets out how Sydney
Trains and Transport for NSW will work cooperatively together to address service alterations,
community consultation, regular service reviews, performance standards and the handling of
complaints.

Sydney Trains provides rail services in its capacity as operator and maintainer under the Rail Services Contract with Transport
for NSW. In doing so it must meet the requirements of the Act.

The question here is - is there an implied government guarantee that the contract will always be renewed, no matter what the service performance of the organisation is in practice?

In Perth, there does not seem to be any contract in place, everything is done internally.

A service level agreement between one division of TransPerth and another.

It seems closer to say, Brisbane Transport, which is a division of Brisbane City Council.

It would be like dissolving QR and instead having a TransLink Trains division in the PT regualtory agency.

Auckland Transport

Auckland Transport is a Controlled Organisation (CCO) of Auckland Council. The organisation combines the transport expertise and functions of the eight former local and regional councils and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA). The establishment of Auckland Transport marks the first time in Auckland's history that all transport functions and operations for the city have come under one organisation.

Among its main tasks are:

to design, build and maintain Auckland's roads, ferry wharves, cycleways and walkways
to co-ordinate road safety and community transport initiatives such as school travel
plan and fund bus, train and ferry services across Auckland.
Auckland Transport's activities are directed and guided at a strategic level by the board of directors.

Find out about Auckland Transport's executive team.

I suspect one of the contributing factors is that the former RailCorp just got its service contracts or authority renewed no matter what.

Six major corruption investigations by ICAC, all uncovered serious corruption. Imagine if Metro Trains Melbourne did that, they would

be booted off the network on attempt #1 guaranteed. Public or private - bad operators should be booted off the network.

[ozbob]

Already a significant number of Sydney train services cancelled this morning.

Re structures.  Transport for NSW is too big.  Public Transport needs to be split out as for PTV.

Our preferred model is PTA WA.  Perfect for Queensland.

The present organisational structures are a massive failure.  There is significant support now for a PTQ or equivalent. We have been advocating for this for a while now.  Even the RACQ backs us!    Onwards!

You are forgetting that under our model the rail operator sits under the PTQ heavy rail division. Operators can be changed if needed.

[#Metro]

Sydney trains is a separate organisation to Transport for NSW IIRC. If that is the case, then it is already "split out".

Sydney Trains is a contracted public agency, similar to how QR was contracted under the previous TransLink Transit Authority agency.

Transport Administration Amendment (Transport Entities) Act 2017 No 12

Part 3B Sydney Trains
Division 1 Constitution of Sydney Trains

36   Constitution of Sydney Trains
(1)  There is constituted by this Act a corporation with the corporate name of Sydney Trains.
(2)  Sydney Trains:
(a)  is a NSW Government agency, and
(b)  is taken to be the same legal entity as, and a continuation of, Sydney Trains constituted and continued under the regulations under this Act, and
(c)  is not a subsidiary of RailCorp.

https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/2017/12/historical2017-04-11/sch1

[ozbob]

Still under the control of Transport for NSW.

> https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/about-us

[#Metro]

Still under the control of Transport for NSW.

They have a contract with Transport for NSW, just like how QR will have a contract with PTQ.

[ozbob]

Can't you see the problem?  They are too big to properly administer everything.  Why do think Victoria splits it out?

Flogging dead horses #metro ...

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Buses on standby to battle any rail chaos on Sydney network

MORE than a dozen train services have now been cancelled with reports up to 15 drivers have today called in sick after their strike was suspended last week.

The services on the T1, T2, T4 and T5 lines were cancelled "due to unexpected train crew changes".

The delays began last night as Transport for NSW cancelled services in a desperate bid to catch up with demand by the morning peak with managers "monitoring" the network and extra buses placed on standby in the event angry train drivers called in sick. ....

[red dragin]

My wife is flying down early Wednesday morning, flying back Thursday afternoon. Thankfully her work is paying for the taxi fare from the airport to Artarmon and back. Can't rely on the trains (especially when most of her journey will be against the peak flow).

[ozbob]

Here come the cuts in services ... welcome to the world of #railfail Sydney ! 

https://twitter.com/Loud_Lass/status/957773307742318592

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Rail strikes highlight a greater crisis in the making

SOUTHEAST Queenslander commuters are only too familiar with a train system that lies somewhere between stretched to breaking point and dysfunctional; the public transport headache of reduced timetables, overcrowded carriages and cancelled services.

Now it's the turn of our Sydney compatriots to suffer a similar #railfail debacle.

In Queensland the problems can be sheeted home in large part to epic mismanagement on behalf of Queensland Rail, which failed to have enough drivers to cope with an expanded network. Blame also the Rail Tram and Bus Union's bloody-minded, closed shop approach to recruitment, and throw in some Newman government era cost-cutting and you've got all the ingredients for the mess we have now.

Like QR, the NSW Government introduced an expanded schedule last year (adding about 1500 services a week), which strained already stretched resources to the limit. To put things in context, in the past three years the number of services has increased by about 18 per cent while the number of drivers has risen by 1 per cent.

Again, like the situation in Queensland, NSW has been relying heavily on drivers working overtime just to keep the trains running, while those drivers push for pay and conditions that would move them closer to their counterparts in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Bear in mind here these are skilled employees piloting roughly 250 tonnes of rolling stock carrying hundreds of people — or more than three times the weight and passenger capacity of a Boeing 737 — through a complex and busy network.

Bargaining negotiations between the workers and the NSW Government broke down, and frustrated drivers instigated overtime bans and planned a strike which would have brought trains to a standstill.

Enter the Fair Work Commission — a creation of the Rudd government in the wake of Howard government's WorkChoices monster — which last week ordered the strike be called off, and overtime bans be suspended, because of the economic damage and inconvenience the action would cause.

Note that the Commissioner who made the ruling was none other than Jonathan Hamberger, who was an adviser to former workplace relations minister Peter Reith who sided with Patrick Corporation in and all its union busting thuggery — complete with mass lockouts, German Shepherds and balaclava-clad guards — during the waterfront dispute 20 years ago.

What the ruling means, in effect, is that Australian workers have all but lost their fundamental right to strike. And ultimately this is the only power any workforce has — to threaten to withdraw their labour.

What the FWC has ordered though — without the right to arbitration — is not only do workers not have the right to strike, they can be compelled to work hours over and beyond what is stipulated in workplace agreements, regardless of the fatigue and stress that is already evident.

This leaves the workers without any bargaining muscle and skews the balance dramatically in favour of an employer who can basically do what they please without fear their operations will be disrupted.

Having participated in the odd strike and picket line over the years myself, I'd argue the whole point of industrial action is maximum inconvenience and financial pain — the last resort option when an employer is being particularly recalcitrant.

Remove that right — a right considered fundamental by the United Nations — and we are powerless.

As ACTU secretary Sally McManus notes: "Rail workers followed every single rule and law, and still the Minister of the day can get an order to cancel bans on working excessive overtime."

When it comes to employers and their ability to inflict pain and suffering on workers, though, consider as an example the now six month lockout (the longest in Australian history) at the Queensland Oaky North coal mine owned by multinational giant Glencore, a company currently being pursued by the ATO for unpaid taxes.

The dispute relates to failed enterprise bargaining talks, and has seen Glencore engage in what the FWC has described as "clandestine and quasi-military" surveillance of workers in their homes and public places. The CFMEU has also come under fire for some of the anger and emotion which has boiled over in the dispute.

Australia's hard-line industrial relations laws are aimed at a problem that doesn't exist, with days lost to industrial action at near record lows, and union membership in slow decline.

Yet still we enforce a regimen that the UN's International Labour Organisation — which describes the right to withdraw labour as "one of the principal means by which workers and their associations may legitimately promote and defend their economic and social interests" — has repeatedly warned is in breach of international standards.

At a time when even the Government concedes that record low wages growth is a major drag on the economy, we pursue policy aimed at emasculating workers' ability to drive a better bargain. And this while a government which considered removing income support for any unemployed person under 30 in the 2014 Budget now argues that cutting corporate taxes for the likes of Glencore will provide some magical trickle-down panacea.

This is just madness.

It is time to change the rules.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph -->Train delays: Sick drivers, 35 cancellations ... but just 'business as usual'

MORE than 35 trains across Sydney were cancelled because drivers rang in sick — sparking delays and overcrowding for commuters yesterday.

Yet Transport Minister Andrew Constance and his bureaucrats described it as "a normal day" and Premier Gladys Berejiklian — who took a bus from her the north shore electorate to work in the city yesterday morning — said it was "business as usual".

While the threatened shutdown of the entire network did not go ahead, multiple trains across the network were cancelled at the last minute, including many peak afternoon journeys from Central to outer suburbs such as Campbelltown, Liverpool and St Marys.

Train boss Marg Prendergast said "it was just a normal day" and NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance called it "a pretty regular day" with mechanical issues, vandalism and medical emergencies also adding to the reduced services.

Speaking on Miranda Devine Live, The Daily Telegraph's exclusive online radio show, Mr Constance conceded 10 services had been axed during the morning peak and at least another ten in the afternoon, but said he was relieved it had not been worse.

"It's a pretty regular day in that regard," he said. "There hasn't been a spike in sick leave, which is very pleasing. Of course this afternoon the union movement is back before the Fair Work Commission doing some conciliation with Sydney Trains."

Mr Constance said the timetable punctuality ran at 93 per cent in the morning.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said "on the main" people were able to get to their destinations as scheduled.

"From all accounts today was pretty much a business as usual day on the rail network," she said.

A spokesman for Sydney Trains said 24 drivers took "unplanned" sick leave out of 1169 drivers.

The Daily Telegraph counted at least 35 individual services cancelled as a result of "unexpected crew changes" during the day.

Commuters were hit hard in the afternoon peak, with trains running late on the T8 line to Macarthur after cancellations, as well as trains running behind schedule to Parramatta and further cancellations on the T3, T8 and T1 lines. On the Western line, the T1 17:52pm Central to St Marys service was one of many cancelled.

The T5 Cumberland line also suffered reduced services with nine trains axed during the day. Some trains ran on different routes as a result, including the 16:02 Liverpool to Central being via Granville.

Train officials and unions will hold talks this week, with hearings held at the Fair Work Commission yesterday following orders made by the industrial body last week, banning strike action.

Mr Constance said Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins would be taking the government's pay offer of 2.75 per cent headline rate, plus benefits directly to train driver tea rooms and depots. "We're keen to get an agreement ... and move on," Mr Constance said.

The state government is advertising for new drivers, both trainees and qualified drivers, on government websites, promising a salary of "between $70,175 — $75,499.83 plus 9.5 per cent superannuation, shift allowances and leave loading".

Drivers also get free travel on trains, buses and ferries, five weeks' holiday and 15 sick days, "discounted fitness membership with access to more than 400 gyms, pools and leisure centres" and a "maximum rostered shift length of 8 hours 33 Min".

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Mattonews/status/958066847831621632

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> NSW rail strife: Union lambasts Sydney Trains boss for repeating rejected offer

RAILWAY workers who again rejected a 2.75 per cent pay rise called on Transport Minister Andrew Constance to come and "face the flak" they are cop on the network every day.

A week after a strike that was forecast to cost the state $100 million was averted, the government and the union are still at loggerheads over their Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.

Sydney Trains boss Howard Collins was "lambasted" by hundreds of union delegates after spending two hours presenting them the offer on their own grounds at Trades Hall today.

The same deal that was offered last week, the package included a 2.75 per cent a year pay rise, free bus travel and a one-off $1000 payment.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW secretary Alex Claassens said the delegates had been expecting a better deal.

"The delegates in that room loudly and clearly told Howard Collins that offer is nowhere near enough, go away and come back with a better one," the union boss told reporters in Sydney.

"It's almost as if nobody's listened to what we've been saying."

Mr Claassens said the documents presented didn't match agreements reached during negotiations.

He blamed in part the state's Transport Minister Andrew Constance.

The NSW secretary also acknowledged the union had lost a big bargaining chip after the Fair Work Commission ordered their planned industrial action be suspended for six weeks.

"Our right to strike has been taken away from us," he said.

"It's just a simple matter of the minister giving his blessing and saying to the management team 'go and do what you need to do, guys'".

Rostering and pay are two key issues in dispute that weren't discussed at the union delegates meeting, Mr Claassens said.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Sydney train chaos: Threat of overtime ban looms over rail commuters

RAIL commuters could soon be in for more pain with rail unions threatening overtime bans should the NSW government refuse to move on its pay offer.

Another meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, with the unions to meet with the Sydney Trains negotiating team in a bid to break an ­impasse over pay and conditions.

The meeting comes ahead of a major transport rally being organised in Sydney, with frustrated train drivers to join protesters against the West Connex and bus privatisation on February 17.

Under a ruling of the Fair Work Commission, the union is banned from taking protected industrial ­action for six weeks — or until next month.

NSW Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) boss Alex Claassens said train drivers stood ready to impose overtime bans at the end of the period should no agreement be reached.

He said the negotiations had ­appeared to make progress but the written documents that followed failed to reflect what had been verbally agreed to.

The key sticking points remain master roster changes and procedures around discipline, while the 2.75 per cent pay rise offer remained unchanged.

"At the end of the six-week ­period, if this is still not resolved, we will go back and put on our badges and impose overtime bans, which we can do," Mr Claassens said.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Green light for train brakes after Richmond crash

A BRAKING device that experts say could have stopped last month's Richmond train crash is finally going to be installed across the state — more than 13 years after it was first recommended after the fatal Waterfall derailment.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Transport for NSW is about to start testing and installing an Automatic Train Protection system (ATP) across the state's rail network, including rural areas such as the far north coast, New England and the Central Coast, as well as the city network.

The revelation comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed the state government was yet to install an ATP system despite announcing plans for such a system on "the majority" of the Sydney fleet in 2014.

ATPs are used on rail systems across the world to monitor train speeds and mitigate the likelihood of accidents caused by human error. If a train is going faster than it is meant to be at any given point it will automatically apply emergency braking.

Transport for NSW documents obtained by The Telegraph reveal the department is seeking a private company to manage the "commission and trial" of ATP across the state.

The successful company will be responsible for "the development of a detailed integration strategy to roll out and integrate ATP" with the network's signalling system.

The documents say the "ATP Trackside Testing & Commissioning Manager" is expected to work on the project for about a year from February 26.

A Transport for NSW spokesman said there had been "significant progress" on introducing the safety system.

"Work is already under way to progressively equip our train fleet with the necessary equipment, while technology will be installed on the trackside network over the next two years during scheduled maintenance windows," he said.

Installation of an ATP system was a key recommendation of the special commission into the deadly 2003 Waterfall crash.

Seven people were killed in one of the deadliest rail crashes in Australian history when a Tangara train derailed after the driver suffered a heart attack.

The Richmond crash, which injured 19 people last month, was the worst rail accident since Waterfall.

Rail Safety Consulting Australia director Phillip Barker said there would likely have been no serious injuries if an ATP been ­installed on the Waratah train that crashed into the buffer at Richmond.

"There still would have been contact (with the buffer), but it's more likely people would have just lost their footing rather than being slammed into the walls," said Mr Barker, a former rail safety investigator with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

The National Rail Safety Regulator said last year the ATP rollout was one of two Waterfall recommendations yet to be met.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Richmond rail crash driver reveals his distress over injured passengers

THE driver at the centre of the shocking Richmond rail crash has spoken of his distress after 16 passengers were injured when his out-of-control train slammed into a buffer.

With his injured right leg still bandaged, Ritesh Mittal revealed life had been difficult for him since the crash.

"I feel bad for the passengers but talk to Sydney Trains about what happened," he said, speaking of last month's accident for the first time. "It's been really hard for me, I'm just trying to continue life as normal and go for walks with my family."

Yesterday the 39-year-old was seen taking a morning stroll with wife Nisha and their two young children at a park near their home in Glenwood.

The outing comes as the Office of Transport Safety Investigations spearheads a probe by three groups into the crash, which left 16 passengers injured, three seriously.

Among the injured were a 77-year-old woman, who suffered a broken shoulder and collarbone, a man, 22, who sustained a broken femur, and woman, 69, who battled severe whiplash.

The train left Leppington and travelled through its stations before crashing shortly before 10am with witnesses reporting carriages that "came up the air like a pyramid."

Sydney Trains maintains it is too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.

The probe involving the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has called for witnesses to the crash labelled "serious".

Experts are poring over CCTV footage to piece together what happened on January 22 with a view to publishing an interim report by the end of the year.

The crash coincided with the rail union's decision that day to strike over pay two days later throwing the rail network into chaos.

Sydney Trains have taken Mr Mittal off driver duties in a move a spokesman described as "standard procedure".

Passengers were sent "flying through the air like Superman" in the crash.

Rail commuters have been warned more travel chaos could follow with rail unions threatening overtime bans if the NSW Government refuses to negotiate its pay offer.

Another meeting with unions and Sydney Trains negotiating team is slated for Wednesday, with a view to breaking the stalemate over pay and conditions.

A major transport rally is being organised in Sydney for frustrated train drivers to join protesters against the West Connex and bus privatisation on February 17.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Metro not the answer to Sydney's transport woes

The current woes of Sydney Trains suggest to me that the system has finally reached the limits of its ability to carry passengers.

Heavily congested trains and stations, and severe delays and interruptions to services, are symptomatic of a rail network operating at full capacity. In other words, there is no room to carry more passengers.

Despite the planned 24-hour strike over pay being called off, there have been more cancellations across Sydney's rail network, affecting the Inner West and North Shore lines.

It is alarming to think that the expansion of Sydney is at risk of being stifled by a lack of capacity in its commuter rail system.

Small wonder when you consider that the pattern of electrified railway tracks around Sydney today has remained virtually unchanged since being approved by Parliament as long ago as 1915.

When opened between 1926 and 1930, it was designed to serve 2.5 million people and now, 90 years on, we should not be surprised that the system is struggling to cope with a population of twice that size.

It has of course been extended over the years to the eastern suburbs, South Coast, the Blue Mountains, Newcastle and to Sydney Airport. But this has not increased its capacity, rather only the size of its passenger workload.

The last time capacity was added was in the1960s, when double-deck carriages were introduced.

We have been told that the new Metro now being built between Rouse Hill and the city will make "all the difference", but this claim doesn't stand up to analysis. The only thing that is clear is that when opened in six years' time, the Metro will operate a shuttle service between Bankstown and Rouse Hill via the City and Chatswood.

The new technology will be fascinating, but it defies logic to suggest that somehow this will take pressure off the West, South or Illawarra Lines, to name a few.

The only way to take pressure of the existing system is to build additional tracks on virtually all lines, because they are all operating at capacity in the peak hours. It may be that the NSW government has a vision of building an alternate metro-style network parallel to the existing double-deck system. Since no master plan has been announced this seems unlikely, but if this were the case, how long would it take to build? Can we wait that long? Can the double-decks carry the load till then?

The most urgent need for additional track in the double-deck system is from the city to Parramatta via the Bays Precinct. The government has talked about this but has not yet made a commitment. Such work should be started now. Using tunnelling, it could be built quickly and would bring immediate relief.

Just as urgent is the need to build a new underground railway station in the city on the double-deck network to take the load off Town Hall and Wynyard stations, where at times passenger congestion reaches dangerous levels. We have been told that the building of the Metro will include such a station but if the existing double-deck trains can't use it, how will it make any difference to today's levels of congestion?

It is the commuters using the double-deck system who are under pressure, not those expected to travel in from Rouse Hill. If it's true that land is now being acquired for this station, may we expect an early announcement of a start being made on its construction?

There is yet one other option available to the government to increase the capacity of the existing network in the short term. Its signalling system is based on obsolete (1930s) technology and although apparently well maintained, it greatly limits the frequency of trains passing.

Installing modern automatic train protection equipment would be a useful first step to equipping the entire network with an electronic train control system, or in-cab signalling.

Is it too much to ask the government to pause in its headlong rush to bring new railway technology to Sydney, and to spend some of its Metro millions on upgrading the existing rail system before it's too late?

John Brew is a former State Rail chief executive.

[#Metro]

What a strange article. Metro has the signalling, very low operating costs etc.

But the author wants commuter rail. Doesn't make sense.

Metro conversion of inner Sydney Trains lines would take pressure off the network due to better signalling and higher frequency all day when it is expensive to run 2x staff trains.

[SurfRail]

The SMH has been running plenty of these articles by the grumpy Old Guard types.  They are all blatantly wrong because they are looking at Sydney Metro as undermining their system, their way of thinking, rather than as a piece in a greater transport system.  These are the people who led Sydney into its current mess, why anybody gives them time of day is past me.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Sydney train chaos all comes down to an extra five minutes per shift for drivers, roster reveals

FIVE minutes' overtime a day — that's the issue at the heart of the industrial squabbling that has caused Sydney's rail chaos.

Secret roster modelling completed by Sydney Trains and obtained by The Daily Telegraph has revealed the precise impact of the new rail timetable on train divers is, on average, an additional five minutes per shift or an extra 8km driven per day.

The Sydney Trains statistics also show not a single driver has worked more than 12 days in 14, despite repeated union claims this practice was behind their desire to strike, and that there were just 10 extra pre-scheduled overtime shifts per day across the entire network.

The new timetable introduced last year delivers about 1500 extra services per week, with the impost repeatedly cited by the union as the reason for industrial action as they fight for a better pay package.

Rail Tram and Bus Union boss Alex Claassens last night dismissed the modelling as "absolute rubbish", saying services had to be cancelled when train drivers refused to work overtime days during industrial action.

"I know we are working more hours. I make these statements based on what my members tell me."

The new modelling comes just over a week after the union was thwarted in the Fair Work Commission from launching a full strike that would have cost Sydney $100 million. It reveals:

• The average increase in total hours worked per day by any driver is five minutes in paid overtime under the new timetable;

• Drivers are working an average shift of eight hours and five minutes, up from eight hours under the old timetable;

• There are 74 paid overtime shifts out of a total 682 shifts per day, up from 64 paid overtime shifts out of 653 shifts per day;

• Drivers now drive an average of 132km per shift, up from 124km; and

• Drivers can now work 3.6 hours of presheduled overtime per week under the new timetable, up from 3.1 hours per week.

Asked about the secret modelling yesterday, a spokesman for Sydney Trains said: "Sydney Trains drivers have played an integral part in the delivery of the 2017 timetable."

Mr Claassens said last June the new timetable was "the straw that broke the camel's back". As the union threatened to strike over a new pay deal, he repeatedly pointed to the new timetable, stating his gripes were about conditions, not pay.

Last night he said he'd had "plenty of conversations with people saying they are doing unreasonable overtime".

"I don't get shown documentation because they hide it. I don't know what's fact or fiction," Mr Claassens said.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Sydney train drivers get new pay offer worth 4.06 per cent

RAIL workers have been offered a new pay package worth more than 4 per cent each year.

Two weeks after the Rail Tram and Bus Union called off the strike that was set to cost Sydney $100 million, Transport for NSW have offered the workers a new package which includes an annual pay increase of 3 per cent, $1000 bonuses, extended free travel and improved conditions.

In a memo sent to members last night, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, they stated the overall offer was worth 4.06 per cent.

While it is anticipated the union will be keen to claim they have "smashed" the government's 2.5 per cent wages cap, the pay increase has been traded off for some "productivity savings".

Workers who have more than two consecutive days off in a row will now be required to provide a medical certificate.

In a statement sent to members last night it said the offer would be taken to them on a "tour by management". Members will then be given the opportunity to vote on the deal.

"The RTBU and the combined rail unions met again today with Sydney and NSW Trains management in an attempt to move closer towards a fair enterprise agreement," it said.

After the previous offer was overwhelming rejected by union delegates, management today presented the group with an amended version of their offer. The updates include changes to some key conditions as well as pay.

Other conditions included in the deal include a new policy which means workers suspended while under investigation for alleged misconduct would be given their usual average pay rather than the base salary.

New rules regarding rostering would also be put in place including "visibility of change, task force for stability, capped number of changes (and) minimum roster duration".

A spokeswoman for the Transport Minister Andrew Constance said "any agreement reached will be within the NSW Government Wages policy."

"In coming weeks it is hoped that the enterprise agreement will be finalised once consultation occurs with the 11,500 Sydney Trains employees," she said.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Sydney Trains boss tasks team with new authority to deal with rail crisis after timetabling chaos

SYDNEY­ Trains will bolster its fat cat team with new authority to deal with the rail crisis amid fallout over train timetabling.

Three weeks after a network-wide meltdown led to strike threats, Sydney Trains boss Howard Collins has told staff he needed "to strengthen our executive team as a result of recent demands on our resources".

In a leaked email, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Collins­ gives four top public servants fresh responsibilities to focus on timetabling, service control and operations for at least the next 12 months.

It was not clear last night whether the four executives would be paid more for the change in responsibilities, which Mr Collins said were "effective immediately".

Mr Collins also advises staff he is "looking to make further permanent decisions as ­quickly as possible".

Transport spokeswoman Jodi McKay said strengthening the executive team was a "mad scramble".

"This shows just how ­unprepared the network was for Andrew Constance's failed timetable," Ms McKay said.

"He knew he was putting in place new services he could never deliver."

A Sydney Trains spokesman last night said the "minor changes" would "help provide additional support across the organisation". He said changes like these "help to ensure the management­ structure is aligned with the current ­demands on the organisation".

One position, a "temporary" executive director role for George Stojovski, has been ­designed for "focusing on the area of service control and operations­", while executive Tony Eid has a priority on "timetable implementation".

Hayden Donoghue, will ­report directly to Mr Collins on "train crewing and support", while David Callaghan will support Mr Collins on major change programs.

The spokesman said such changes in focus were "standard practice" and "similar shifts of focus in the past have helped ensure our customer satisfaction rating is regularly above 90 per cent".

The Daily Telegraph ­revealed on Tuesday that sec­ret roster statistics compiled by Sydney Trains revealed the real impost on drivers of the new timetable was just five minutes extra per shift.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union, which is in a tense wage stand off with the government, has repeatedly complained that overtime under the new timetable is unsustainable.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney's 'complex and tangled' rail network vulnerable, report finds

Sydney Trains will accelerate the hiring of more drivers and cut some services late at night after crew resourcing was found to be a major contributor to two days of rail chaos last month but has stopped short of a major overhaul of the new rail timetable.

A high-level report into the rail network's ability to recover from major incidents following the meltdown on January 8 and 9 has also found it remained vulnerable to disruption because it was ''complex and tangled'' due to multiple branches of lines, cross overs and junctions.

The short-term measures include reducing services with "very low patronage" during off-peak periods to improve incident recovery during the morning and evening peaks, recruiting more drivers and upgrading old communication systems.

Transport for NSW secretary Rodd Staples said it was too early to say how many services would be cut but "it will be very small in terms of the number of customers that will be affected".

"We are not going to touch the peak at all," he said.

"I would love to say hand on heart that we won't have this incident again [but] we will have a lot of action here to minimise the likelihood of this happening again."

The new rail timetable introduced on November 26 was blamed by Labor and unions for reducing the ability of the system to recover from delays caused by major incidents.

Leaked documents also revealed that Sydney Trains' had warned before the timetable was introduced that delays were likely to be "cumulative and irrecoverable" during peak periods following incidents.

But Mr Staples said the rail network would still have faced significant challenges if the old timetable had been in place at the time of the incidents last month.

''No doubt the fact that we are running more services a day does make that harder to recover, but I would not point the finger at the timetable per se as the underlying issue," he said.

The widespread delays and cancellations last month caused major disruption for passengers, platform crowding and longer journey times. At its worst, more than two thirds – or 2043 – of the 3016 services on January 9 failed to run on time.

A lack of train crews "to deal with the magnitude of disruption that occurred" was one of the major factors identified. ''The lesson learned is that some additional reserve crew capacity is needed to support the network in recovering from events,'' the report said.

The review did not state how many new drivers were required but said it would be ''prudent to accelerate recruitment'' to aid recovery from major incidents and counter rail operators in Queensland and Victoria poaching NSW rail staff where ''higher rates of pay are offered''.

The other recommendations in the report ordered by Transport Minster Andrew Constance include shifting responsibility for replacement buses from Sydney Trains to the lead transport agency so that railway staff are freed up to focus on passengers during disruptions.

It also found a key reason for the the network's ''continuing vulnerability to major disruption'' was the fact that, as a result of the way it has evolved over decades, there are ''numerous conflicts and interactions" between each rail line.

''This means that when incidents and delays do occur, they have the potential and a tendency to cascade across multiple lines, compounding disruption for customers,'' it said.

The ''entangled nature'' of the T1 Western – the city's busiest – and the T2 Inner West lines compounded the disruptions last month.

The rail network's ability to recover from incidents was underscored again on Tuesday when delays to trains caused by a fire at Circular Quay in the morning were still occurring across multiple lines more than 12 hours later.

The report said further investment in realigning tracks, stabling locations and removing rail junctions was essential in the medium term to provide "more capacity, greater reliability and more resilience to major disruptions''.

But Mr Staples conceded that there "isn't a quick fix" to the challenges facing the network.

"Realistically it's decades of work and we are in the middle of that now," he said, citing construction of a new $20 billion metro rail line. "In the short term, we have to do better at planning for these incidents and having associated recovery plans."

Another timetable change looms later this year to cater for the six-month closure of the Epping to Chatswood rail line in Sydney's north, which will be converted to carry single-deck metro trains.

While it was too early to reveal the actual dates of the line's closure, Mr Staples said the timetable changes would be "be nowhere as significant as last year's change".

[MichaelJ]

Photos have reently emerged on Chinese Social Media of our new toys, The B Sets. They should arrive in March, then I can start their official testing.

[Cazza]

Is that the new intercity fleet?

[#Metro]

Sydney #RailFail Protest

https://www.facebook.com/7newssydney/videos/2009500235740766/

Angry commuters are set to protest from Hyde Park to Martin Place about the recent frenzy associated with Sydney public transport.The recent chaos with Sydney Trains is part of their focus.

"The travelling public is very unhappy with the state of the train system." - Luke Foley, Leader of the NSW Opposition

Report on 7 News at 6pm

Download the free 7plus app: http://onelink.to/7plus

#SydneyTrains #7News

I guess Brisbane folk just put up with it..

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/T1SydneyTrains/status/970566472316497925

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/2GB873/status/971179473100881920

[SurfRail]

There is a very good comment response to the SMH article from somebody who actually knows what they are talking about (and who I am confident from their knowledge and prose style is somebody who posts on other forums I'm also on). 

It's all a massive beat-up and amounts to choosing to fix the non-compliant sections of route in the Blue Mountains instead of having bespoke rollingstock for BMT services or a one-size-fits-all order of trains which fit less well on the other routes.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/9NewsSyd/status/971283400731611136

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney Trains cuts services to reduce chance of network meltdown

Sydney Trains will cut about 94 services a week from Monday as part of what it describes as a tweak to the rail timetable after the network suffered a major meltdown two months ago.

The changes – representing fewer than 1 per cent of the thousands of services each week –will mainly affect the Northern, North Shore, Bankstown, Cumberland and Carlingford lines.

Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins said the services to be cut were mostly late at night or early in the morning, and Opal data showed them to have low patronage levels.

"We are reusing the train resources and the driver resources. We don't want to run trains when people are not using them," he said.

"Some of these services are at 4.30 in the morning or after midnight."

A high-level report, released last month, into the rail network's ability to recover from major incidents following the meltdown on January 8 and 9, found it remained vulnerable to disruption because it was ''complex and tangled'' due to multiple branches of lines, crossovers and junctions.

The short-term measures recommended included reducing services with "very low patronage" during off-peak periods to improve incident recovery during the morning and evening peaks, recruiting more drivers and upgrading old communication systems.

A new timetable introduced on November 26 was blamed by Labor and rail unions for reducing the ability of the system to recover from delays caused by major incidents.

Labor's transport spokeswoman, Jodi McKay, said the government needed to be "upfront and tell people" what services would be cut and where, rather than wait to find out on Monday.

On Wednesday morning, passengers experienced delays on the Western, Northern and North Shore lines after a train broke down near Broadmeadow and signal equipment needed urgent repairs. About 20 passengers on the train had to be helped off and transferred to other services.

The operational challenges come as about 11,500 rail workers decide on whether to accept a new enterprise agreement in a ballot that begins on Thursday.

The proposed deal includes a 3 per cent annual pay increase for three years, a one-off $1000 payment, 64 weeks paid redundancy and an extended travel pass on public transport.

The proposed annual pay rise is 0.5 percentage points above the cap on NSW public sector wages of 2.5 per cent. The government said the pay deal for rail workers did not breach the cap because it was offset by "employee-related savings".

Transport Minister Andrew Constance urged rail workers to "support the deal", which he said was a "very attractive proposition" for staff.

"We are not getting too much negative feedback," he said.

The ballot closes on March 23.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/SydneyRailUser/status/972918075610640384

#railfail2

[SurfRail]

Oh the poor cosseted darlings.  However will they survive?

[achiruel]

https://twitter.com/SydneyRailUser/status/972918075610640384

#railfail2

Well, I guess at least they haven't cut services to Cronulla in the middle of peak hour and opted for a separate Friday timetable. 

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TFNSW_VLOGS/status/976234353171693568

[MichaelJ]

Waratah B1 stands outside the Shed at Downer Auburn Maintenance Facility for the Premier's Media Launch

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmp/27091618168

[Cazza]

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/lachlan_kennedy/status/977429865551953920