Government Prior Knowledge of Cracked Trams ‘Disgraceful’

RTBU Visits New UGL Control Centre

The revelation in October of internal documents which show that the NSW Government knew about the risk of trams on Sydney’s inner-west line cracking, but did nothing about it point to a government willing to turn a blind eye to transport safety risks, tram drivers say.

Secretary of the RTBU Tram and Bus Division NSW, David Babineau, said the revelations that documents provided to the government highlighted a risk of “faults and failures” around two years prior to the trams being taken off the tracks for an extended period of time are a slap in the face to workers and commuters. “That the government knew about these risks but simply turned a blind eye to them is disgraceful,” Mr Babineau said. “This clear show of government incompetence resulted in absolute transport mayhem for inner-west commuters. The idea that it could have been avoided but wasn’t is unbelievable. “The people of the inner-west were left without trams for months. They should all be asking questions about why the government allowed it to get to that point. “Not only did the government ignore the warnings, but they then went ahead and order more overseas made trams without any further investigation. “The sooner this NSW Government realises that public transport is a public need and not a political plaything, the better.”

On 6 September Branch Secretary Alex Claassens and Infrastructure Organiser Wayne Moody attended the new UGL Train Control Centre in Orange.

Following the transfer over from John Holland CRN to UGL Regional Linx Pty. Ltd, UGL have design and developed a new signalling system that will be integrated across the network and be fully operated out of Orange, the system is currently undergoing testing.

Alex Claassens gets a rundown on the new system by Jamie Dean

UGL Network Control Manager with representatives from

Transport NSW, UGL Regional Linx, and ONRSR