The chaos isn’t over yet: Relief as grounded trains finally start moving again after a communication issue brought Sydney’s entire network to its knees – but tens of thousands of people are still stranded
- Sydney Train network stopped running at 3pm
- A communication issue blamed for the chaos
- Trains running again an hour after system failed
- Ubers were costing $90 for trip across Sydney
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Sydney’s train network remains in chaos after a ‘communication issue’ saw the travel plans of thousands of commuters thrown into disarray.
All trains stopped just around 3pm on Wednesday – with the screens at Central Station in the middle of the CB coming up completely blank.
Transport NSW were forced to halt all trains due to safety reasons after the Digital Train Radio System failed.
The system has since been rebooted and grounded trains have started running again more than an hour after the issue began.
However, tens of thousands of commuters remain stranded across the city.
Transport NSW initially warned commuters that the issue would affect services throughout the entire afternoon.
Warnings for passengers to ‘expect delays’ earlier in the afternoon escalated to messages advising commuters to find ‘alternative travel options’.
However, the system failure has seen the price of Ubers soar, with trips across Sydney costing commuters almost triple the price.
The screens at Central Station were completely blank on Wednesday afternoon following an outage
There was chaos at Wynyard Station (pictured) where travellers were turned away from the gates due to the network outage
Anyone hoping to escape the train chaos was in for bad news as rideshare prices surged well above their normal levels.
One commuter posted a screenshot of one trip from the middle of the city to Bondi that was charging $88.21.
More buses have headed into the city to take train commuters left in limbo.
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Chaos also ensured at Wynyard Station where travellers were turned away from the gates and told the system was down.
One station attendant told a Herald reporter that such an issue had ‘never happened before’.
One woman said on Twitter that her brother, who is a train driver, advised her that all communications were down and there was a major outage.
She said that he had gone to work ‘two hours ago’ to start his shift as a driver and was still stuck on the train waiting to get to his destination.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters in Sydney were forced to find alternate way to get to their destinations (pictured, commuters waiting for the trams at Town Hall)
The chaos resulted in price surges for Ubers, with trips across Sydney costing commuters up to $90
The NSW Shadow Transport Minister, Jo Haylen, blasted the Perrottet government over the outage.
‘The Liberal government’s neglect of our existing train network has left old infrastructure that breaks down too often, and when it does, the entire network is disrupted leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded,’ she said in a statement.
‘Our existing rail network needs investment. It needs new rolling stock and new infrastructure. Instead the Liberals have neglected it and ran it down.’
‘Labor will invest in our train network so it gets passengers from A to B. The Liberals have neglected it and there’s a real risk that they would privatise it’
Former political advisor Eamonn Fitzpatrick said the mass outage did not bode well for Dominic Perrottet, given the NSW state election is less than three weeks away.
‘This is the Dominic Perrottet’s worst fear,’ he said on Sky News.
‘State governments are about service delivery. With people all stuck together, it doesn’t take them long to start thinking about your performance.’
More to come.
