Sydney Train commenters have been warned to expect major delays this morning
Cancellations are impacting the T1 North Shore and Western, T2 Leppington and Inner West, T3 Liverpool and Inner West and T8 Airport and South lines.
Services on the T6 Lidcombe and Bankstown Line would be replaced by buses between Bankstown and Lidcombe.
The Central Coast and Newcastle line will have two trains per hour in each direction, while the Blue Mountains and South Coast lines will only have one train per hour.
‘Recent industrial action … will significantly disrupt passengers on Monday, particularly those travelling on Intercity services,’ TFNSW said in a statement.
The industrial action comes despite the Minns government winning an eleventh hour Federal Court injunction.
The state government launched urgent legal action on Sunday in an attempt to stop the rail union from resuming its industrial action on Monday.
The Federal Court granted an injunction to prevent total chaos for commuters, however Transport for NSW claimed passengers would still see significant disruption on Monday despite the government winning the court order.
‘The NSW government is pleased we have some certainty for NSW commuters, particularly as we head into the Christmas and New Year period and will continue to work for an agreed outcome,’ A NSW government spokesperson said.
On Sunday, Premier Chris Minns explained the injunction was aimed at stopping the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) from resuming industrial action after failed negotiations.
‘After two weeks of negotiations we have not been able to come to a fair deal with the combined rail unions,’ Mr Minns said.
‘Daily exhaustive negotiations have not resulted in a breakthrough despite the government’s best efforts.
‘The Government asked rail unions to pull their planned industrial action this coming week. They’ve refused.
‘And as a result Transport for NSW has this afternoon sought an injunction in the federal court to do all we can to avoid inconvenience to NSW families in the run up to Christmas.’
The union fired back claiming the injunction was an ‘unprecedented legal attack against workers’.
It also accused the Labor government of ‘effectively shutting down’ negotiation talks with the union.
The union previously demanded for trains to run 24 hour trains each day between Thursday and Sunday night as but of its negotiations but has since backed down.
The union is demanding a 32 per cent pay rise over four years and has claimed to put restrictions on the distance its employees could travel in a shift as it negotiates the pay rise.
The RTBU said industrial action between Monday and Wednesday would see drivers and guards incrementally reduce the distance they travel each day.
‘The maximum distances for suburban drivers and guards will be reduced by five kilometres per day, for intercity drivers and guards it will be reduced by eight kilometres per day,’ the union said.
Mr Minns said he could not agree to the union’s demands as he had said ‘no to the nurses union and other unions’ during their ‘reasonable negotiations’ this year.
‘I’m disappointed and I’m very sorry about it, but unfortunately that’s where we are at,’ Mr Minns said.
‘At the end of the day I can’t say yes to the rail unions whilst at the same time say no to the nurses union and other unions reaching reasonable settlements over the course of 2024.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk