New South Wales’ Rail Repair Plan is moving full steam ahead, with 350km of track repaired by 5800 crew working 10,000 shifts in the past month.
Since the Rail Repair Plan was launched by NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen on June 4, the intense maintenance backlog program has seen more than 570 of 1916 high-priority defects removed and 70 of 144 high-priority inspections completed.
The removal of speed restrictions on sections of the track is surging ahead with 24 removed, leaving just 14 to be fixed.
Not dissimilar to 40km/h roadwork zones, temporary rail speed restrictions are put in place as a safety measure when a section of track is identified as being compromised in some way, such as weather damage, having track defects, track that is worn down and needs replacing, or wider environmental conditions such as extreme heat. Removing these speed restrictions allows trains to travel safely at speed through that area of track, reducing delays for passengers.
In addition, 122km of track grinding has been carried out along with more than 70 work orders to tackle the electrical backlog.
The biggest impact on passengers has been during the weekends. This past Saturday and Sunday alone, more than 1500 rail workers worked across more than 250 sites along the T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line from Central to Wollongong and Port Kembla removing defects, completing safety critical inspections, and upgrading infrastructure, including improving resilience work against future flooding.
The work included:
- Platform reconstruction at Jannali station
- Ballast cleaning at Helensburgh
- Replacing track at Austinmer
- Refurbishing Caringbah bridge
- Grinding rail at Cronulla
- Culvert upgrading at Tempe
- Removing points defects at Wolli Creek
- Flood mitigation works at Stanwell Park.
This weekend, buses will replace trains from Cabramatta and Lidcombe to Sydenham while major trackwork is undertaken.
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