Sydney’s suburban passenger rail network operator is facing significant challenges including fleet reliability, workforce gaps, major system upgrades and governance issues, a report says.
The final report of an independent panel’s review into Sydney Trains’ rail infrastructure and systems was released last week.
The report says Sydney Trains is facing major changes to systems, fleet and infrastructure over the next five years and beyond, including the introduction of new timetables for 2024 and 2025, the Tangara refit, critical network upgrades and a major digital systems program.
“Successful completion of these projects has the potential to transform Sydney Trains’ operational efficiency and service delivery and to underpin a more reliable and resilient rail service,” the board concluded.
“However, the projects pose significant risk and will fully test the capacity of both Sydney Trains and TfNSW to manage and deliver major projects safely and on time and budget.”
Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW have welcomed the 69 findings from the review, which the government says provides a blueprint for the future of a modern railway, and say they are working through them.
Sub-par fleet performance
The review found Sydney Trains fleet performance is below target, the result of delayed technology upgrades and problem-plagued procurement and integration of the New Intercity and New Regional Rail fleets.
It says fleet performance has improved over the last few months but remains below reliability and availability targets.
Rail infrastructure was the single highest cause of delays to train services between 2014 to 2023, and 2022/23 experienced the highest rate of infrastructure incidents causing delays to services since 2015/16.
Workforce challenges
The review also found challenges in recruiting, training and retaining skills in specialised positions.
It identified high vacancy rates in critical positions and an ageing workforce, particularly in the critical engineering and maintenance branch, where around 20 per cent of staff are aged under 34 and almost one in three over 55.
“Sydney Trains has significant workforce planning challenges. Rail Operations and the Engineering and Maintenance Branch (EMB), in particular, are facing challenges in recruiting, training and retaining key skills in both professional and front line positions, including infrastructure workers, signallers, engineers and project managers,” the report says.
Governance issues
The panel expresses concern that current governance arrangements are not sufficiently connected to provide a ‘coherent performance regime’ for Sydney Trains.
The Panel has identified further areas where the consolidation of functions into TfNSW has diminished Sydney Trains’ ability to effectively manage their core business risk.
Sydney Trains Review Final Report
“The arrangements need to be streamlined to provide a wholistic view of Sydney Trains’ obligations and performance outcomes,” it says.
“The Panel has identified further areas where the consolidation of functions into TfNSW has diminished Sydney Trains’ ability to effectively manage their core business risks.”
It’s also critical of what it describes as a complex and diffuse operating model across Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE), TfNSW and Sydney Trains, which it says is hindering effective asset management “with many parties having overlapping and unclear roles.”
The report makes several recommendations including stepping up approaches to safety, asset management, freight and third-party access to the rail corridor; reviewing how Transport for NSW manages and maintains its assets, and improving critical incident response.
Opportunity to improve welcomed
“Sydney Trains is always looking for ways to improve,” Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland said.
“Some of these recommendations require considerable investment over the next decade, and we look forward to developing detailed proposals for the government’s consideration.”
The independent review was launched by the Transport Minister on 31 March 2023 and undertaken by an independent panel comprising National Transport Commission chair Carolyn Walsh, Arthur Smith and Peter Medlock.
The government says all 12 recommendations of the preceding Interim Report have either started or been finalised, and the Rail Repair Plan’s high-priority defects target was hit three months ahead of schedule.
Sydney Trains operates 919km of electrified track and 169 stations across eight lines, with 3,200 timetabled services delivering some 720,000 passenger journeys each day.
The state owned corporation is responsible for the management of more than $46 billion in assets, including 2134 electric and diesel cars, and over 1536km of electric wiring.
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