Image: Photo: Will Thorpe
The New South Wales president of the national rail union expects residents of the Blue Mountains will wait until the year’s end to travel on new intercity trains, whilst those on the South Coast will wait until early 2026.
Denying that the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) was culpable, Craig Turner said that he did not foresee new trains entering service in the Blue Mountains until “at least the end of 2025” followed thereafter by their commissioning on electric services to Kiama, south of Sydney.
“We refute anyone that says that we’ve held up that train,” Turner said.
“The reason it’s been held up was 99.9 per cent on safety. You can’t have a train that went out there and actually killed people.”
Successive state governments have been in dispute with the RTBU over aspects of the design and operation of the intercity trains. The parties have also been at loggerheads on other matters, including pay and conditions, the conversion to metro of most of the Bankstown line, and the absence of driver’s cabins on automated metro trains.
The plan has always been for a staged introduction of the new intercity fleet, named the Mariyung trains (borrowing a Darug word for the emu). They entered service on the Central Coast & Newcastle Line in December and have progressively been taking over from older trains.
According to Transport for NSW, passenger services will begin on the remaining lines “in a staged deployment, once modifications are completed and the necessary safety accreditation obtained.”
The new trains feature arm rests, luggage racks, tray tables, charging ports and USB sockets, digital screens and a higher maximum speed which may in time allow for a reduction of travel times. Unlike most other suburban and intercity trains, they lack reversible seats, which research by Transport for NSW indicates are preferred by passengers.
Some might also view them as lacking the coziness of the oldest, V set intercity trains, which have flippable purple seats and purple carpets. These are presently the only trains which operate Blue Mountains Line services.
Infrastructure upgrades continuing
The state government is upgrading railway infrastructure across New South Wales and beyond to accommodate new intercity and regional trains. Significant work has already taken place along the Blue Mountains Line, allowing the Mariyung fleet to traverse the corridor which was previously too narrow.
Some work is also taking place on the South Coast Line as part of the Rail Infrastructure Upgrades project.
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