Mass Train Strikes Causing ‘Incalculable’ Economic Damage: NSW Premier

New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns attends a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at state Parliament in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 15, 2024. Rick Rycroft-Pool/Getty Images

More than 80 percent of Sydney trains were cancelled during the afternoon travel peak on Jan. 15, causing an “incalculable cost” to the economy, according to New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns.

Passengers are being warned to stay home unless necessary, as storms compound the already complicated situation.

As of Jan. 16, around half of all services were still cancelled.

The work ban continues after unions, including the Rail, Bus, and Tram Union (RBTU) and Electrical Trades Union (ETU), opposed a government offer of a 15 percent pay rise over four years. The unions had wanted 32 percent.

Premier Minns reported that the tally had climbed to 2,000 cancelled services on Jan. 15, with the situation expected to worsen.

“Think about the economic activity that has been smashed as a result of that massive, wide-scale industrial action, and the incalculable cost on the New South Wales (NSW) economy, of having a major international city’s public transport system completely rendered, or next to rendered, useless,” he told reporters on Jan. 16.

Minns said he would be applying to the Fair Work Commission to urgently end the industrial action, saying the work bans had impacted “hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people.”

“Nearly every family in Sydney is affected by public transport outages,” he said.

On Jan. 15, NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen vowed not to budge on the government’s offer, instead saying she would pursue legal avenues to put an end to the industrial action.

Sydney Trains also announced continued operational disruptions.

“Industrial action will include speed bans on train services, impacts to infrastructure maintenance and inspections, and bans impacting how incidents are managed in the Rail Operations Centre,” Sydney Trains said in a statement.

The T7 train line continues to be heavily impacted by the bans, while buses have been brought into service areas between Lidcombe and Olympic Park and Mulgrave to Richmond on the T1 line.

Bondi Junction station has had urgent repairs fixed, resulting in fewer delays.

Storms Add to Calamity

Compounding the crisis, wild storms overnight added to the difficulties facing commuters, with some trees and powerlines falling onto rail tracks.

While most damage was fixed promptly, the storms heightened the strain on commuters, with over 100,000 homes losing power and thousands of requests for State Emergency Service support.

More storms are possible, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.