Rapid Metro build for Sydney’s second subway system

Massive new harbour crossing project starts 2018.

16 November, 2015

Inside Sydney’s new rapid transit metro trains

Public tests for 13-tonne life-size model.

5 November, 2015

Deloitte government research chief sees danger in outdated privatisation models

William Eggers can see an imminent future where digitally savvy, self-enabling citizens will soon challenge the purpose and power of bureaucracy entrenched government institutions.

24 February, 2014

New Tax app launched in frustration

By Julian Bajkowski A long running push by Australia’s independent software community to spur the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) into improving and adding new features to the revenue agency’s eTax lodgement interface has just taken a bold new twist. Plucky mobile developer Wave Digital claims it has given up waiting for the taxman and launched […]

29 October, 2013

NSW wants tourists to catch decommissioned trains

By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Investment levels and the mature age of the equipment running railways in New South Wales have long been the subject of steam-era jokes, but the state’s signal-master-in-chief, Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian, has hatched a cunning scheme to turn out-of-date rolling stock into real tourism revenue. The state government […]

28 May, 2013

NSW rail bosses reapply for their own jobs

By Paul Hemsley The New South Wales government’s break-up of its single rail operator RailCorp has forced its senior managers to reapply for their positions after senior corporate jobs were split between replacement bodies Sydney Trains and NSW Trains. The latest round of musical chairs at the transport provider comes as the NSW government prosecutes […]

7 February, 2013

Paywall to surround official government Style guide

By Julian Bajkowski The federal government’s official style guide is set to become a pay-per-view exercise after the Department of Finance and Deregulation revealed that it will imminently gavel-off the public sector reference manual to private operators to cut costs. A tender notification issued by Finance reveals that the agency intends to pursue a “seeking […]

30 January, 2013

Twelve-year-late NSW smartcard arrives

By Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales government has trotted out the latest iteration of its vexed transport ticketing smartcard for public testing more than 12 years after commuters were promised the now unremarkable device in time for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Known as the “Opal” Card (which has no connection to the identically named […]

27 November, 2012

NSW splits RailCorp, sacks 690

By Paul Hemsley Another 690 railway workers in New South Wales Minister will be sacked under the latest sweeping changes ushered in by state Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, that will separate the operation of metropolitan and country services into the brands Sydney Trains and NSW Trains. The return to separate rail operators for the state […]

16 November, 2012

RailCorp shake-up causes job losses

Middle management bureaucracies will be slashed in the NSW railway service to make way for a re-organised specialist system. The NSW Government will launch the Fixing the Trains initiative, which will break up RailCorp to create two specialist bodies to accommodate the different needs of regional and intercity commuters. These two services will be Sydney […]

17 May, 2012