National

NSW trains chaos continues as talks resume

By AAP Newswire

Feb 24, 2022

DAVID ELLIOTT UNION PRESSER — Transport Minister David Elliott is meeting the Rail, Tram and Bus Union on Thursday. -AAP Image

As the NSW trains remain running on a reduced service the NSW premier has doubled down on his view that the union is to blame for the entire network shutdown on Monday.

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Transport Minister David Elliott is meeting the Rail, Tram and Bus Union on Thursday to try to resolve the long-running stoush over a new enterprise agreement that has crippled train services all week.

Premier Dominic Perrottet says the middle of the night decision to cancel trains on Monday that blindsided him as well as 600,000 commuters was "completely unacceptable" but was "100 per cent the right decision".

"This situation would not have occurred but for the (union's) breach of the agreement that was entered into with the Fair Work Commission on Saturday," he told reporters on Thursday.

The premier met Mr Elliott and Transport Secretary Rob Sharp on Wednesday and stipulated that any major decisions in the future had to be conveyed to the minister in writing.

"I made it very clear ... that the current situation is unacceptable," he said.

"They need to sit down with the unions and improve the capacity on the rail network as quickly as possible."

On Tuesday the government withdrew its claim against the Rail, Tram and Bus Union in the Fair Work Commission after the union asked to see the justification for shutting down the network.

Trains resumed at limited capacity on the same day and will continue at the same level of service through to the end of the week.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press