Commuter carnage caused by a “nowhere-near-good-enough” power outage will continue well into a second day.
Sydney residents have been urged to avoid unnecessary travel after a live wire suspended above train tracks near Strathfield station at Homebush hit a passing train, triggering a power outage on Tuesday afternoon.
Repairs to the overhead wiring were completed on Wednesday morning but officials expected residual delays for the rest of the day.
Commuters queued in their thousands at stations across the city on Wednesday morning waiting for a trickle of replacement buses, themselves hampered by increased traffic on the roads.
The congested nature of the train service between Strathfield and Homebush caused the widespread carnage, Transport Minister John Graham said.
“The fact that power has been restored and trains will start to move through the Strathfield area will allow us to get the network moving again,” he told Nine’s Today.
“But it won’t be till the PM peak that we’re anything close to timetable services.”
Crews worked through the night to fix the overhead wiring, made tougher by dark and rainy conditions with the high-voltage power lines nearby.
At one point on Tuesday afternoon, a 1500-volt power connector was sitting on top of the train carrying 300 passengers.
Premier Chris Minns said $1.5 billion a year was spent on rail infrastructure and maintenance so punters should expect a more reliable network.
“This is nowhere near good enough, we’ve let the travelling public down,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio.
“I saw (media) today which was damning of the government, and it said it was a shame for Sydney – I have to agree.”
Transport for NSW said replacement buses were at full capacity trying to supplement for the lack of trains.
“It’s not like flicking a switch and getting the timetable operating instantly,” rail operations executive Jas Tumber said.
“We have to go through a gradual build-up of matching crew and trains to provide the frequency of service that we need.”
The NSW government announced a fare-free day as compensation on Monday.
