Thousands of passengers are left stranded and late for work after train breakdowns cause commuter chaos during morning peak hour
- Sydney Metro commuters left stranded by a broken down train at North Ryde
- Angry passengers vented frustration of being up to two hours late for work
- Sydney Metro insists normal services were back up and running by 10am
- Were you affected by the chaos? Email kylie.stevens@mailonline.com
Thousands of Sydney Metro commuters were left stranded after mechanical problems sparked morning peak hour chaos across the network.
The chaos was caused by mechanical problems on a train at North Ryde, where passengers were reportedly stuck on stationary trains for up to 20 minutes before being instructed to disembark and wait for replacement buses.
Angry commuters took to social media to vent their frustration, posting photos of the long queues for buses.
Sydney Metro commuters were stranded at stations across the network on Thursday
‘Thanks Sydney Metro – no city bound services and no replacement buses – no help or announcements at the station telling us where to go and you’ve got a few hundred people waiting for already crowded buses – good job,’ one tweeted.
Another added: ‘How can this network be so broken? It is brand new. This makes the 100 year old suburban rail network look like a well oiled and reliable machine. Whoever is responsible for the maintenance should lose their contract, I mean your network has 8 hours on downtime per day or more.’
Some commuters complained about being up to two hours late to work.
Replacement buses were organised for commuters travelling between Chatswood, North Ryde and Macquarie Park.
One 2GB listener told radio host Ray Hadley there were up to 500 commuters waiting for buses at Macquarie Park.
Sydney Metro announced shortly before 10am that services had returned to normal and buses will continue to supplement the service.
‘We apologise for this morning’s delays,’ Sydney Metro tweeted.
One fed up commuter replied: ‘Sorry is not enough for such a giant issue – how about about a statement which confirms all affected passengers will be reimbursed their FULL travel costs for today.’
It was the second time within 24 hours the Sydney Metro network experienced major delays caused by a broken down train at Chatswood on Wednesday.
More to come.