In a snap press conference at Kangy Angy Rail Maintenance Facility on May 13, the NSW Government announced it would push ahead with the rollout of the new intercity fleet of trains on the Central Coast line, despite lingering safety concerns from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU).
The RTBU says staff are refusing to work on the new trains without safety amendments because of “unacceptable safety risks to the travelling public and rail workers”.
Minister for Finance and Employee Relations, Damien Tudehope, said he had advised the union that he would not support any RTBU demands that further delayed the rollout of the trains.
“They are safe, world-class trains that will enormously improve the experience for commuters, especially those with a disability, and they should be in operation today,” he said.
Treasurer Matt Kean said the NSW Government was “drawing a line in the sand” to get the fleet into service.
“There is $2B worth of rolling stock sitting in mothballs and rusting on the tracks (at Kangy Angy) because of these unreasonable demands by the unions,” he said.
Named the Mariyung fleet, the new intercity trains will travel to the Central Coast and Newcastle, down to Kiama on the South Coast line and from Sydney to Lithgow on the Blue Mountains line.
The fleet was supposed to start rolling out in late 2020, starting with the Central Coast/Newcastle line, but they have been stuck in storage at Kangy Angy while the RTBU and the NSW Government have been in discussions and court battles for years, even before the trains arrived from South Korea.
RTBU NSW Secretary, Alex Claassens, said safety concerns stemmed from train guards not being able to adequately monitor the platform during departure.
He said passengers would be at risk from crucial blind spots in surveillance, meaning they could have undetected accidents or falls into the gap between the train and platform and staff would be unable to hear them.
This is due to drivers and guards solely monitoring from CCTV cameras mounted on the sides of the trains.
The RTBU doesn’t believe the “customer service guard” operating from a crew compartment is adequate, instead of an in-person guard.
Claassens said workers were worried about the lack of audio, the inability to monitor all angles on monitors at the same time and the restricted line of sight because of the design of the train carriages.
Chief Operating Officer at NSW Trainlink, Dale Merrick, said at the press conference that the Mariyung Fleet had safety and customer features on an international standard.
“There are 20 cameras on each side of the train and that gives guards visibility of the platform and train interface that we don’t already have (on other trains), so they are a safety aid of the highest quality,” he said.
In July 2021, NSW Trainlink received accreditation from the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) to operate the Mariyung fleet, comprising 610 carriages, into service.
The ONRSR is the national regulator that administers the Rail Safety National Law and achieving its accreditation means the operating model and systems for the Mariyung fleet have been assessed as safe.
Minister Tudehope said at the press conference last week that if the NSW Government was to accede to the union demands as they currently stood, it would cost in the vicinity of $1B.
“It is not the best thing for the public to modify a state-of-the-art train,” he said.
“There is a significant number of Mariyung trains sitting (at Kangy Angy Rail Maintenance Facility), ready to run and the aim is to get these trains into service.”
Tudehope said he thought the RTBU’s stance in relation to these trains was not so much about safety issues but industrial issues with ongoing negotiations between the union and the Government.
Claassens said the Minister’s announcement showed a complete disregard for the safety of commuters and disrespect for workers.
“The Minister is also misrepresenting the findings of the regulator,” he said.
“Rail workers have long said they will refuse to drive the new intercity fleet until the significant safety issues are adequately addressed … and as soon as those safety concerns are addressed, we’ll happily operate them,” he said.
Meanwhile, the trains remain in storage at Kangy Angy and the NSW Government is yet to announce when they will start running on the Central Coast line.
Sue Murray