In May 2014, the NSW Government announced the purchase of what would end up being 61 new 10-carriage trains, then called the NIF (New Intercity Fleet), to replace the 52 ageing 8-carriage V-Set and OSCAR trains. They would eventually be named D-Set or Mariyung trains and remain set to operate in the intercity rail network, to Newcastle, the Blue Mountains, and South Coast. The first were expected on the network in 2019, with the rollout to be completed by 2024.
In October 2016, a decision was made for the D-Sets to be the same proportions as the existing suburban double deck trains. The V-Sets were 2,928mm wide but suburban trains are 3,034mm wide. As suburban platforms were designed to fit the wider suburban trains, this meant that the V-Sets had wider gaps between the train door and the platform, which the newer D-Sets would not have, making the D-Sets more accessible. However, this would mean enlarging several tunnels in the Blue Mountains that were only large enough for the smaller V-Sets. This became the first controversy of the D-Sets, with the NSW Opposition often arguing that the Government ordered “trains too small big to fit through existing tunnels”.
Following suggetions as early as 2016 that the new trains could be operated by a driver only, in December 2019 the NSW Government would announce plans for D-Sets to be staffed by a driver with no guard onboard. Although the previous Waratah Trains were delievered with no guards compartment in the middle of their 8-carriage sets (guards would instead sit in the other drivers compartment located at the rear of the train) and cameras could possibly allow driver only operation for them, no plans were ever made public to make the Waratahs driver only. Therefore, the D-Sets would mark the first time that passenger trains in NSW would operate as driver only on the Sydney Trains network.
In response to this announcement, the NSW Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU) demanded modifications to the D-Sets in February 2020 before its members would work on the new trains. Eventually, the Government dropped its plans for driver only operation in March 2021, but refused to carry out the modifications which the RTBU was calling for.
In July 2021, the Independent Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator gave approval for the D-Sets to enter service “as soon as possible”. Then Transport Minister Andrew Constance said that “the train cannot physically move until all the doors are closed”, a sticking point with the RTBU who wanted guards to be able to keep their door opened for safety reasons.
The dispute reached boiling point in February 2022 when the RTBU announced plans for industrial action and Sydney Trains responded by shutting down the network for 24 hours. The confrontation was widely seen as a win for the RTBU, with the Government changing its tune on the RTBU’s desired modifications soon after. Although the Government at one point claimed that these modifications would add an additional $1 billion to the existing $2.8 billion cost, this was later budgeted for $264 million in June 2022.
However, this wasn’t the end of the negotiations, as the RTBU still had their wage claim. The Government was offerring pay increases of 3.0% and 3.5% in each of the next two years, above the previously legislated 2.5% pay cap that has been in place for the last decade. The RTBU wanted an extra 0.5% in each year. The current rate of inflation is 6.1%, for comparison. But with negotiations now moving from safety to pay, the Premier Dominic Perottet decided in August 2022 that no further negotiations would occur. Rail workers would be given the opportunity to vote on the current offer on the table, a process that would likely take 5-6 weeks. If it is voted down, then the Government will seek to terminate the existing enterprise agreement, a process that could take 2-3 months in court.
Commentary: What is this dispute really about?
The industrial dispute on Sydney’s railways is all about pay and conditions. The workers want a pay rise that is commensurate with the current high inflation and want to ensure that automation does not eliminate the guard role on trains. They are entitled to make these claims, particularly in a time of high inflation and elevated cost of living pressures. But the argument that this is about safety is merely a thin smokescreen to achieve these goals of better pay and condition.
The new D-Sets are safe. The national independent regulator has said as much. They are much safer than the old V-Sets they are set to replace. The RTBU claims to be concerned about safety, yet also want guard doors to remain open even while the trains are in motion, potentially allowing guards to fall out of a moving train, They repeatedly refuse to operate any overseas made trains as part of their current industrial action – trains that are newer and safer than the older Australian made ones.
Meanwhile, industrial action by the RTBU in February of this year in which the NSW Government massively overreacted and shut down the entire rail network with only hours’ notice left the Government with egg on their face. The Government tried to argue that it was due to a strike, it was industrial action, and that it left them with no choice but to shut down the network, despite there being the option for reduced services. Even more embarrassing was that the Transport Minister, David Elliot, was absent and sleeping when the decision was made. The RTBU would have felt emboldened by this, rightly so given the poor choice of response by the Government.
Yet since then, virtually all of the safety demands of the RTBU have been agreed to by the Government. They wanted to maintain 2-person operation; the Government allowed it. They wanted the trains modified, at a cost of $260m; the Government agreed to it. They wanted an annual pay rise above the 2.5% cap; the Government provided one (albeit still 0.5% less than the RTBU wanted). Now it’s reached the point where even Opposition Leader Chris Minns is calling on the RTBU to suspend their industrial action.
That is what led to Premier Dominic Perottet’s ultimatum this week on the current Government’s offer: take it or leave it. He has seemingly had enough and must think he has a reasonable chance that enough members of the public might sympathise with his conclusion. Either way, they are likely to cast their judgement at the ballot box next year on this matter.
Transport Sydney 
I’m a driver with Syd Trains, won’t say which depot because of our social media policy can get me in a lot of trouble. I’ve also been a guard and station staff working for the railway for over 13 years. I firmly believe the guard role hasn’t been required in many years, for the union to say this is all about safety is a load of bull$hit. It’s all about money, wages go up means the union can increase their dues, already paying over $500 per year for nothing more then a diary and a picnic day. If guards go, union lose members which means less money. If Labour was running this state it would be all over with months ago.
There are some inconsistences here. The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator relied upon a desktop analysis by an expert in the UK, without a physical onsite inspection, because of Covid restrictions on international travel at the time. That’s not good enough. There are clearly defects with the cameras at night and in bad weather and the inability to monitor below 1.1m along the platform which need to be fixed. The issue of retaining guards is another matter.
It’s incomprehensible that the government thought that it could just impose Driver Only Operation (DOO) from the outset, which would dispense with guards, without initial consultation with the union in determining the train’s specification. The union would no doubt have opposed it, but the government could have at least allowed for continued operation with guards, while building in design for future conversion to DOO and ATO, which happened with the Waratah fleet in its initial design specification. There were no problems in operating the Waratah fleet from the beginning, in spite of its inherent design for later conversion to DOO, when rail infrastructure upgrades, such as platform screen doors on the busier stations, allowed for it to operate safely.
It was the right call to design the Mariyung Intercity fleet with the same body specifications as the existing suburban trains, and specifically the Oscars, on which it is based, but with a different internal fit-out. The Northern, South Coast and Blue Mountains as far as Springwood Intercity lines were upgraded, including widening and/or lowering of track beds in tunnels, to allow for the operation of the wider Oscars. I have no doubt that there would have been a longer term plan to do the same on the Blue Mountains Line from Springwood to Lithgow, which has now been completed. It avoids the need to have two separately specified Intercity trains for the whole network, which is sensible.
The matter of the pay dispute in negotiating a new Enterprise Agreement is a completely separate issue, which I understand has been dragging on for over a year at least. The government has been attempting to bundle it in with the Deed of Agreement to modify the Mariyung fleet, while the union has been insisting that they be treated separately. Up until now, this has been a major point of difference, with the government relenting, but still refusing to negotiate on the pay issue, while holding the union to ransom on the proposed Deed to modify the Mariyung fleet.
If the government continues to play hard ball, then there is no way they can force the union to operate the new trains, which will likely remain in mothballs indefinitely.
Absolute litany of errors in this. Chiefly: the government NEVER agreed to the modifications. Every time they did, they either reneged or they had so many strings attached that the offer was meaningless.
The deed that Alex Claassens signed on 30 June, which had been developed by both Transport and RTBU, would have been the end of that matter. Tudehope reneged on it and tried an $18k bribe to workers. We turned it down. Since then, every offered deed by transport/government attached the following strings:
– modifications would only happen if we accepted the capped pay deal and ended EA negotiations
– modifications could be cancelled if there were any “warranty” issues; a vague and broad term that renders the deed worthless
– there was no scope of works for the modifications listed, so no guarantee that the work we need done would be done
– if the EA was voted down for any reason, the modifications would not go ahead (bear in mind there’s 6 unions and only about 12% of members are Train Crew
So why should everyone accept a lousy EA for an unenforceable, vague deed? When Constance cancelled the variation that would have fixed it in 2019, when Tudehope reneged in 2022? Zero trust.
Plenty of other errors in this ridiculous essay as well, including that the government offered more than the cap – no, they fake the numbers by including the compulsory increase to Super, which is not meant to be included.
As for Adam B in the comments, shame on you. Firstly, industrial action is permitting comments to media and the public, so the social media policy is moot unless you’re not a union member. Secondly, the tired $500 diary trope is utter bullshit. Thirdly, if you saw the heap of shit they call a train, particularly how bad the cameras are and how fucking disgraceful the cabs are, you’d change your tune. I was in the HSR group “consulted” (dictated to by management) for 4 years, that fucking train can rust to the fucking rails. A C set is safer, more comfortable and more ergonomic. The cameras are utter shit (in the rare event they can see through glare/fog/rain/snow/dirt, they still can’t see the gap with the doors open), the cab layout is a disgrace, the procedures for operating it are basically “if someone falls in the gap and you don’t notice, it’s your fault”.
wow, so many errors. First of all, they did announce in 2016 it was going to be Driver Only.
In 2016 it was found that the Government didn’t KNOW that because they made the fleet wider than the V set that it ‘would not fit’ past Springwood. This was fairly well covered by the media at the time.
2016 is also when they announced Driver only Operations, this was not so well covered in the media, but there were a few articles out there, especially in 2018 when
Andrew Constance reversed this decision and said that the train would only operate with a driver AND a guard.
You also forgot to mention that ONSR said that they would not grant approval for a driver only train.
As I expressed previously, I seriously doubt if the government, or those within Transport for NSW, didn’t know that the wider NIF wouldn’t fit past Springwood. I’m sure that they would have been well aware of it, but chose to not publicise the fact. It would have been part of a long term plan to widen the loading gauge to Lithgow. The same widening of the loading gauge was carried out on the Northern and South Coast lines to accommodate the Oscars and in the case of the former, the Intercity Tangaras as well as the new Waratahs at the time, which were being fitted out in Newcastle before being transferred to Sydney.
I expect there is some less than accurate and honest reporting on both sides. But it comes down to competence. If you want to introduce one person operations or whatever – you need to make sure you provide aporopriate training and remuneration. And most importantly you also need to get it signed off before you commit billions of taxpayers’ money.
Agree, just as the previous Labor government did when designing the Waratahs, which have built-in capability for conversion to DOO and ATO, but retained the ability to operate with guards until any conversion was warranted. Had the current government adopted the same design for the NIF, then this dispute would have ended long ago. But no, their ideological hatred of the RTBU and unions generally, got the better of them and they are continuing to suffer the consequences, which may not end well for them in the lead-up to next year’s election.
For wheelchair and other passengers who need assistance to board and leave the train, the present arrangement is for either station staff or guards to operate the ramp. BUT, there are many stations that are not manned throughout the entire operation period of the train service. If there is no guard aboard the train and the station staff have left their station for the day, how are wheelchair passengers and many others going to be able to board the train?
The original proposal was to have guards board trains at the outer suburban stations of Sydney for that reason, and be driver only operation within the urban netwrok. The urban stations where intercity trains stop (Blacktown, Epping, Strathfield, etc) are still staffed at all times. That would have maintained universal accessibility, an important feature of the system.
I am a wheelchair customer and I am very aware of stations in Sydney metro area which are unattended during daylight hours. I have experienced this on several occasions.
Which stations go unattended which intercity trains stop at?
I have to admit that I am not thinking specifically Intercity Services – but if there was a win for no guards on intercity services, then there would be an inevitable flow-on with the loss of guards on suburban services – and people like me would be locked out!
I don’t think that’s inevitable. Even Sydney Metro, which went driverless, kept a customer services officer (a much more useful version of a guard) onboard all their services. So the evidence points towards better services, not worse.
Replying to Bambul Shakibaei
The majority of Blue Mountains stations only have staff from Monday to Friday. And most of these stations are only staffed for one shift/day, many for only 4 hours/day. This means that any disabled person travelling in the afternoons or evenings, on weekends or public holidays will not be able to board or disembark at those stations without a guard to assist.
Given that the Blue Mountains is a tourist destination, there are a lot of people travelling at these times.
The best examples are Leura and Wentworth Falls – both prime tourist destinations but only staffed from early morning until 1:30PM on weekdays. Glenbrook also has many visitors but has only 2 part time shifts and only on weekdays.
There are also those locals returning home in the afternoon or evening from shopping, work etc who require assistance disembarking who have to restrict their travel to weekday mornings. As Transport for NSW has a commitment to “accessible stations”, it is pointless spending millions of dollars to install lifts (as at Glenbrook, Wentworth Falls and Leura) when the people that need to use these lifts are unable to then board the trains.