Media release: Workers urge review of ‘Super Saturday’ Sydney rail mess
Rail workers are calling on the Transport Minister to commit to conducting a full review of the “IT errors” that hit the Sydney network on the weekend to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Workers were called on to exceed their shift limits on Saturday in order to keep trains moving after an apparently unfortunate mix of “IT errors” and electrical faults hit the system. It is not the first time IT errors have been used as a reason for significant delays on the system in recent times.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Secretary, Alex Claassens, said that while workers welcomed the Transport Minister’s call on commuters to respect workers during the delays, it is important that all steps are taken to ensure situations like we saw on Saturday don’t continue to occur.
“The situation on Saturday was incredibly difficult for everyone involved, especially for the commuters who were left stranded for hours on end,” Mr Claassens said.
“It was nice to see the Transport Minister come out and address the situation and remind commuters that rail workers weren’t to blame for the issues, but what we really need to see now are steps being taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“Commuters and workers not only deserve a detailed explanation as to what went wrong, but also a commitment that everything possible is being done to ensure we won’t see a repeat of the issues in the future.
“We’re hopeful the NSW Government will not spare any expense to get to the bottom of the issues that forced Sydney to grind to a halt on what we knew was always going to be a very busy day.”