Hundreds of peak-hour commuters were trapped on the $3billion light rail for more than hour after the service broke down.
Nine trams stopped running across the CBD after a service at Town Hall broke down about 4pm on Tuesday.
There were delays of more than 90 minutes as office workers desperately attempted to get home from the city.
Peak-hour commuters were forced to walk or told to catch a train after Sydney’s $3billion light rail broke down again. The light rail is pictured on December 14
One tram was locked for 70 minutes with passengers inside, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Chloe Groom was on the light rail with her five-year-old daughter at the time the system collapsed.
She said passengers weren’t given any information, felt ‘abandoned’ and were forced to call the police for help after no response came from the emergency button.
‘We pressed it over and over and there was no answer … I don’t think they knew there was a tram full of people,’ Ms Groom said.
‘People stayed pretty calm for a while but … especially when you’re receiving no information, you start to feel a bit panicked.’
Commuters were able to exit the tram when police arrived at 5.30pm.
Brian Brennan, Managing Director, Sydney Light Rail, Transdev Sydney, told Daily Mail Australia he sincerely apologised to those impacted.
‘During this time one tram was stopped between the Bridge Street stop and Circular Quay stop and passengers were unable to be safely disembarked straight away as they had live traffic running on either side,’ Mr Brennan said.
‘Catch a bus or train instead. Check information displays for service updates.’
‘To ensure the customers were safely disembarked, police assisted with traffic control.
‘The tram was stopped at approximately 4pm and passengers disembarked shortly after 5pm.’
Mr Brennan said what happened to passengers ‘wasn’t good enough’.
‘It is not good enough that passengers were unable to leave the tram quickly and we sincerely apologise to those customers who were not as well-looked after as we expected yesterday,’ he said.
‘We have systems and processes in place to ensure that customers are safe and well-looked after when there are disruptions, and it’s our priority to identify where they went wrong on Tuesday night.
‘We apologise to customers for the inconvenience and appreciate their patience while we resolve issues as we bed the system in.’
Maintenance crews fixed the botched tram but it broke down again at Central while on its way back to the Randwick depot about 6.15pm.
Pictures posted to Twitter showed police officers direct the stranded commuters around the stationary tram at Central Train Station.
‘Light Rail services are not running between Circular Quay and Central due to urgent mechanical repairs at Circular Quay and Central,’ an update about the partial closures said at 6.30pm.
‘Catch a bus or train instead. Check information displays for service updates.’
Commuters confirmed the delays on Twitter but none were surprised by another break down.
‘Just like lite cuisine, lite rail helps you lose weight and say healthy… because you have to walk,’ one person said.
The trams stopped running across the CBD after a service at Town Hall broke down about 4pm on Tuesday
‘Well we are going nowhere but at least we now have driverless trams #sydneylightrail,’ another person said with a picture of stationary services.
The tram eventually left Central about 7pm.
Tuesday’s delays came as CBD establishment The Morrison Bar & Oyster Room threw a ‘tram party’.
Owner Fraser Short said he was ‘so confident’ the tram wouldn’t run on time on December 14 that he promised to ‘shout the city drinks’.
Maintenance crews fixed the botched tram but it broke down again at Central while on its way back to the Randwick depot about 6pm. Pictures posted to Twitter showed police officers direct the stranded commuters around the stationary tram at Central Train Station
But the service did stick to its timetable and Mr Short was forced to host his off-the-rails tram party from 5pm on Tuesday – despite the delays.
An ALTRAC Light Rail spokeswoman said the maintenance crew is investigating what may have caused the fault.
‘Affected passengers were disembarked from trams in the city and advised to use Sydney Trains services to travel between Central and Circular Quay,’ she said.
‘ALTRAC apologises to customers for the inconvenience and appreciate their patience while we resolve issues as we bed the system in.
‘L2 Randwick Line trams are running without major issues this morning.’