Sydney train commuters face further disruption this week as rail workers strike again, while negotiations over alterations to new trains and an enterprise bargaining agreement drag on.
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The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) is escalating industrial action throughout August, including targeted area-based strikes, leaving station gates open and a ban on transport officers issuing fines.
Transport for NSW is encouraging commuters to keep swiping their Opal card, saying commuters risk being fined by police and the Opal data is used to plan services.
Rail workers will strike in one area on Wednesday, but the union says workers from other areas of the network can continue to run trains at reduced frequency.
The area on strike includes the Bankstown, East Hills and Southern line but Transport for NSW said other areas would also be impacted.
"A heavily reduced service will run on the T2 Inner West & Leppington, T3 Bankstown, T8 Airport & South, and the Southern Highlands lines as a result of industrial action by the (RTBU)," TfNSW said in a statement on Tuesday.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said the T4, T1 and T9 lines covering the North Shore, Eastern Suburbs and Northern Suburbs of Sydney won't be affected.
"We will be doing our best to maintain frequent services across the lines impacted by union action for commuters who really need to use the rail network, but we are asking commuters to avoid non-essential travel and consider other options," he said on Tuesday.
RTBU NSW secretary Alex Claassens says commuters are not the target of the action.
"The RTBU has deliberately designed these actions to cause maximum frustration for the senior management and the government," Mr Claassens said.
"We're fairly confident though that they can run a decent service (on Wednesday)."
A similar strike action was run last week, with about hourly services running on the Eastern and Illawarra line.
A fleet of intercity trains from Korea the union says need altering before they can operate safely in NSW have been sitting in storage since they first started arriving in 2019.
Mr Claassens said he signed a deed for changes at the end of June and is waiting for a deed promised by Employee Relations Minister Damien Tudehope and Regional Transport Minister Sam Farraway at a meeting last Thursday to surface.
"We can now all safely assume that they're not going to use the deed that I signed ... clearly the lawyers are doing their job on it," Mr Claassens said.
The enterprise bargaining agreement setting out worker pay and conditions expired in May last year.
Australian Associated Press
