Sydney's commuters are sick of delays regardless of who is to blame
Tuesday's peak hour chaos, which started as students were trying to get home from school and extended well into the commuter hour, will have seriously tested the patience of heavy rail users.
It was a broken overhead live wire landing on the roof of a train in Sydney's west that caused the delays but that is irrelevant. Sydney's commuters are tired of delays, regardless of who is to blame.
Only as recently as February, commuters were collateral damage in the bitter ongoing wages dispute between the state government and rail unions.
Few will forget Valentine's Day this year, when Sydney experienced massive train delays and cancellations. The city was thrown into chaos as a significant number of train drivers and guards called in sick, according to Transport for NSW.
The unions, however, maintained the absences were no more unusual than other Fridays.
After an elongated industrial dispute, last minute-negotiations broke down when the government said it was blindsided by a union claim for a one-off $4500 sign-on bonus. 'I think the union is gaslighting Sydney,' NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union was having none of it. They insisted that the bonus was a deal signed by the former Liberal transport minister David Elliott. It was a classic case of he said, she said. It was not the only major disruption on the city's rail network during the months-long dispute, but it had a big impact.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Albanese remains ‘in the thralls' of China as country edges away from US
Former Liberal titan Bronwyn Bishop discusses the increasing ties between China and Australia, suggesting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is "in the thralls" of the Chinese government. "I think Albanese is in the thrall of China, and by that I mean there is undue influence, some would say control," Ms Bishop told Sky News host Paul Murray. "China seems to be mapping where all the cables are ... we are edging away from the United States and pivoting towards China. "Is Australia the next Taiwan, and it's richer than Taiwan, and it's poorly defended."
Sky News AU
3 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘Elephant in the room': Radical Islamism is ‘incompatible' with Western democracies
Sky News host Danica De Giorgio addresses the 'elephant in the room', being radical Islamism and Labor's stance on promoting multiculturalism. 'Don't forget, after October 7, in the first instance, Labor conflated antisemitism with Islamophobia – as if both were an equal issue in the country; what about the hate being spewed out of some of the Mosques?' 'And the elephant in the room remains – the topic most politicians in this country don't want to touch … multiculturalism,' Ms De Giorgio said. 'Radical Islamism is incompatible with Western democracies, yet the PM told us today that multiculturalism is our strength. 'The common denominator is radical Islamism; until we wake up to that fact, and have this conversation, I fear that nothing will change.'
The Age
4 hours ago
- The Age
Our water bills are too cheap – and we'll soon pay dearly for that
There are no more important social and economic policy challenges in Australia today than housing and productivity. Nationally, there is a housing target of 1.2 million homes by 2030 to fix an affordability crisis for existing and future generations of Australians. Meanwhile, the federal government has convened a summit to turn around a decades-long decline in productivity. Playing out across Australia, and particularly Sydney, is an issue that profoundly affects both of these challenges, and it has been building for the past decade. Like new roads and energy infrastructure, new water and wastewater pipes and infrastructure must be built to accommodate new housing. NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has described the years ahead as the decade of pipes and poles. Data centres, the new building block of productivity, need secure water sources just as much as they need energy and land. Data centres of the future will be among the biggest water users in any capital city in Australia, and dozens are expected in major cities over the next decade. In Sydney, against a backdrop of criticism for not keeping pace, Sydney Water has proposed to spend $15 billion over five years to maintain ageing infrastructure, meet the housing needs of a rapidly growing city and ensure a resilient and secure supply of water. However, in its draft decision, the NSW pricing regulator, IPART, has proposed a cut of $5.9 billion, or 35 per cent, over the next five years – one of the largest cuts to proposed water investment we've seen for a generation. IPART's draft determination has cut investment for housing-related infrastructure by $3.2 billion over those five years compared with what Sydney Water proposed. Loading Like many others, the Water Services Association of Australia, which I lead, has raised concerns that delaying investment risks a lack of new water and wastewater connections placing a handbrake on housing and productivity in Sydney. While Sydney is the focus of friction now, we've been highlighting for some time the funding constraints that exist across the industry. The National Performance Report for the urban water sector was released this year by the Bureau of Meteorology. It went unreported in the media. It shows two contrasting trends over the past decade: first, bills for water and wastewater services have remained flat; second, investment has been significantly increasing – water and wastewater capital expenditure during that period roughly doubled. The flat bill trend is not sustainable. A step change in capital expenditure is required, with investment for housing being the biggest driver.
