{"id":29949,"date":"2024-04-12T14:27:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T04:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infrastructuremagazine.com.au\/?p=51874"},"modified":"2024-04-12T14:27:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T04:27:00","slug":"sydney-trains-rail-repair-plan-exceeds-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=29949","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Trains Rail Repair Plan exceeds targets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of its Rail Repair Plan, Sydney Trains has repaired more than 1,916 high-priority defects as well as more than 29,000 defects since the works were launched, putting the program ahead of its initial schedule.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The $97 million program kicked off in June 2023 to improve reliability and resilience of the transport network. From September 2023 to March 2024 the seven-month average for peak on-time-running is the best it\u2019s been since 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the Rail Repair Plan was launched, the target was to remove 75 per cent of high-priority defects (1,916) to get the maintenance backlog under control to &#8220;acceptable levels\u201d within 12 months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to the rapid progress of the Rail Repair Plan, Sydney Trains has committed to a revised target to remove 2,116 high-priority defects before the end of June.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regular trackwork is critical for the safety, reliability, and efficiency for the millions of people across NSW who use the rail network to get around.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trackwork, maintenance, and reliability upgrades are crucial across the ageing network, with some parts more than 100 years old.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trackwork will continue after the Rail Repair Plan is complete, over weekends and during school holidays when patronage is reduced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Torrential rain in early April led to significant disruption on the South Coast line, with damage occurring at Coalcliff and between Kiama and Bomaderry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">250 Sydney Trains crew worked continuously over a 90 hour period to repair 200km of track and restore services north of Kiama.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Services are running between Wollongong and Waterfall at a reduced timetable due to a significant landslip at Bald Hill. Workers will return to the line on the weekend of April 13\u201314 as work continues to enable the restoration of a full timetable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Work between Kiama and Bomaderry is still underway, with truckloads of ballast being delivered to Berry station to restabilise rail lines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, said that this critical work to repair the train network will make it safer and more resilient for millions of people who catch a train in Sydney with peak on-time-running the best it\u2019s been since 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m very pleased at the progress this government has made in getting our trains back on track,\u201d Mr Minns said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTo the staff that have been working around the clock to repair our train network and minimise disruptions for commuters, thank you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New South Wales Minister for Transport, Jo Haylen, said that she is very proud of everyone at Sydney Trains who has jumped on board the Rail Repair Plan and exceeded all expectations with the results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhile we have made exceptional progress, there is still much work to be done and I will not stop until we have the most reliable and resilient network possible for the passengers of New South Wales,\u201d Ms Haylen said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen I first launched the Rail Repair Plan in June last year, it was evident we had a lot of work to do, and getting on top of the maintenance backlog was the first step.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019d like to thank our passengers for their patience and understanding, and our hardworking staff for striving to deliver a rail network the people of New South Wales deserve.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sydney Trains Chief Executive, Matt Longland, said that Sydney Trains is now on top of the maintenance backlog on the rail network, which will provide more reliable trips for passengers and less incidents with infrastructure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m so proud of our teams who have worked really hard to exceed all targets months ahead of schedule,\u201d Mr Longland said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur trackwork teams will still be out there working hard each weekend to keep on top of the maintenance task and maintain reliability, but we won&#8217;t see as many impacts for customers when buses replace trains during trackwork. And that\u2019s a good outcome for everyone.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of its Rail Repair Plan, Sydney Trains has repaired more than 1,916 high-priority defects as well as more [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8213,471,2251,1433,163,8203,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asset-management","category-news","category-nsw","category-rail","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-spotlight","category-transport"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29949"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37897,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29949\/revisions\/37897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}