Sydney Trains met with the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU) for a second time on Tuesday night, and the union agreed to run a regular train service on Thursday, including the planned 86 additional special event services to Olympic Park for the Pearl Jam concert.
At this stage the RTBU has not agreed to lift their industrial action they have planned for Friday through to Sunday, which means the notified bans in place by the union will bring the heavy rail network to a shutdown on Friday, Saturday, and through until Sunday morning this weekend.
In a statement, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains said it remains committed to finding a resolution for our workforce this side of Christmas.
Jo Haylen said in a statement to the media that she apologises to commuters for the disruption.
“We will continue to talk with and meet with the union leadership,” she said.
“I’ve spoken to the secretary of Unions New South Wales and the secretary of the RTBU, as has the Premier.”
This will impact passengers including those travelling to and from Newcastle, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands, and the Illawarra.
This impact is due to cumulative Industrial Action, but primarily the ban restricting the number of kilometres train crew can work per day.
Some limited emergency bussing is being organised for wherever possible, however numbers will be extremely limited.
Passengers are advised to find alternative transport arrangements where possible, leave plenty of travel time, and plan your journey on transportnsw.info before catching public transport.