NSW:More rail hitches to come, govt says

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-2011
NSW:More rail hitches to come, govt says

SYDNEY, April 12 AAP - Rail commuters should expect more debacles like the one that
crippled Sydney's train lines and left 100,000 people stranded during the morning peak,
says NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian .

"I know people were let down today," she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

"I know they've been let down before and unfortunately there maybe other occasions
when they're let down."

Less than two weeks into her new job, Ms Berejiklian and CityRail senior management
had to face the media following a computer failure that affected signalling equipment
at Sydenham, in the city's inner west.

About 7.40am (AEST) the computer hardware that allows the signalling system to switch
between its primary and backup systems failed, resulting in red signals controlled by
Sydenham station.

The Bankstown, inner west, southern, airport, East Hills, Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra
lines saw delays of at least two hours.

Ms Berejiklian blamed the former Labor government, accusing it of under-investing in
CityRail projects for the past 10 years.

She also said commuters should expect more failures similar to the Sydenham shutdown
before things improve.

"We've always known that turning around the system will take more than a week.

"It will take more than a month. It will take more than a year."

CityRail chief operating officer, Andy Byford joined Ms Berejiklian at the press conference
and said technicians were able to reboot the system and restored services by 9am (AEST).

"My job is to run a punctual railway and we didn't manage to do that this morning,"

Mr Byford told journalists.

He said technicians had not yet determined exactly what caused the problem and he couldn't
elaborate on why the switching mechanism caused both systems to fail.

By early afternoon on Tuesday, commuters at Town Hall station were being told not to
take trains to destinations affected by the failure due to extended delays.

Mr Byford expects the system to return to normal by 2pm but would not agree to providing
free passage on the City Rail network for the afternoon peak.

"My priority at the moment is to focus on making my train service run on the right
time tonight," Mr Byford said.

AAP vpm/dg/tr/pc

KEYWORD: DELAY GOVT

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