Heathcote Maryanne Stuart said local commuters would be big beneficiaries of the Minns Labor Government’s decision to adopt all 12 recommendations from the Sydney Trains Walsh Review Interim Report.

The report, commissioned by the Minns Labor Government in April, investigated the failings and flaws of the network which had deteriorated significantly under the former NSW Government.

The report by Carolyn Walsh and her review team, found the network was neither reliable nor resilient.

The data obtained by the review team alarmingly found the resilience of the network had rapidly deteriorated since the 2017 timetable change.

Mrs Stuart said public transport was one of the biggest issues raised with her by residents throughout the Heathcote electorate.

“The train network is notorious for being predictably unreliable,” she said.

“Whether it be late trains or cancelled services, the frustration of commuters with the network reached boiling point a long time ago.

“Premier Chris Minns and Transport Minister Jo Haylen are determined to fix the plethora of issues facing our train system.

“Adopting all 12 recommendations in the interim report is a great step towards that goal.”  

The recommendations of the interim report were:

·                An expanded passenger focused team that can respond more flexibly and rapidly to disruption

·                Immediately commencing work to map out an urgent and large-scale program of works to tackle the five year backlog of system maintenance, which has caused most of the failures

·                The Chief Executive of Sydney Trains will report directly to the Secretary of TfNSW and be represented on TfNSW Executive committees

·                The Chief Executive will be directly accountable to the Minister on critical issues

·                Responsibility for the Standard Working Timetable will be transferred from TfNSW to Sydney Trains

·                The timetable team will report to the Sydney Trains Chief Executive to ensure independence and transparency

·                Key executive positions within the Sydney Trains executive will be made permanent to ensure we have the right people in place to bring about this network transformation

·                Sydney Trains and TfNSW will undertake an audit of recertifications and training for rail safety workers

·                Sydney Trains will get back its ability to directly manage its relationships with its own workforce and their representatives

·                There will be comprehensive engagement with the workforce during the procurement, design and construction of new rolling stock

·                Consideration will be given to moving the Intercity fleet and operations from NSW Trainlink to Sydney Trains