Government cuts leave Sydney’s trains filthy

Sydney’s dirty trains will continue to get worse unless the NSW Government re-employs dedicated transport security staff and cleaners.

The Government privatised cleaning services on Sydney’s transport system over a year ago, slashing hundreds of cleaners’ jobs in the process.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union Secretary Alex Claassens said that the removal of dedicated security staff who regularly patrolled trains has also led to an increase in bad behaviour on the network, including littering.

“This is a classic case of cost cutting at the expense of the travelling public. In the past years we’ve seen our dedicated transport security team cut and cleaners’ jobs lost. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that as a result our trains feel less safe and dirtier,” Mr Claassens said.

“When the cuts to cleaning staff were announced and the new private companies hired, we were told our trains would be cleaner. That promise certainly hasn’t been delivered on.

“This is privatisation gone wrong. The NSW Government wanted to cut costs and in doing so it has cut the quality of the cleaning service too.

“Of course the onus is on commuters not to use our trains as bins, but the NSW Government also needs to reinstate the people whose job it is to keep our trains clean and safe.”