Wet weather causes chaos for Sydney trains
Commuters attempting to get onto packed platforms at North Sydney. Picture: Brendhan Ryan/Supplied. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
SYDNEY, Feb 10, 2020, News.com.au. Sydney commuters are being told to expect possibly lengthy delays this evening, with many trains still impacted by the recent wild weather. Crews have been working to get train services up and running after the wet weather caused a number of issues, including flooding, landslides and trees falling across train tracks, News.com.au reported.
CEO of Sydney Trains, Howard Collins, told reporters that every services was impacted by the weather.
“Every service was affected in some way, whether it was flooding at Central or Newcastle,” he said.
“We not only saw services disrupted but even opal readers not working because of the flooding.”
As a result a number of train lines are still experiencing delays or service cancellations and many commuters are not impressed.
Commuters on a train travelling towards Hornsby said the train stopped between North Sydney and Waverton before turning back and forcing passengers to depart and wait for a different train.
A landslide at Leura in the Blue Mountains impacted part of the track and wiring in the area.
The Blue Mountains Line is closed in both directions between Lawson, Lithgow and Bathurst and a very limited bus replacement service is operating instead.
There are still no services running on the T5 Cumberland Line, with customers told they may need to swap trains at Granville to complete their journey.
Services are also suspended between Lidcombe and Olympic Park due to flooding, with buses replacing trains.
The Sydney Metro has also has issues today, with buses replacing trains between Chatswood and Macquarie University.
Customers from the city have been told to use the T9 Northern line to Epping, then change for Metro services.
It seems that a number of Opal readers are still being impacted by the wet weather, with multiple customers unable to tap on or off.
Transport for NSW said they are “identifying impacted locations and customers and in most instances will automatically adjust fares”.
The chaos comes after NSW was drenched with rain and wild weather over the weekend, causing flooding across the state.
Robertson in the Southern Highlands received the biggest falls in the state, receiving 698mm since Wednesday as of 9am Monday – 500mm on the weekend alone.
Castle Cove was the wettest area in Sydney, recording 456mm since Wednesday.
Sydney itself received 391.6mm, its wettest four-day period since 1990. Byron Bay in the north recorded more than 300mm, while parts of the south coast recorded 150mm to 200mm.
Dam levels across greater Sydney rose by more than 20 percentage points over the past week, sitting at 64.2 per cent on Monday.
The SES responded to about 10,000 calls for help and carried out multiple rescues of people trapped by rising rivers and floodwaters.
The RFS says the rain helped firefighters extinguish more than 30 fires, some of which had been burning for months. They include the Gospers Mountain megablaze northwest of Sydney, the large Green Wattle Creek fire southwest of Sydney and the Currowan blaze which ravaged the south.
There were 26 fires left burning in NSW on Monday afternoon, all at the lowest alert level.
With AAP
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