Newly surfaced documents suggest senior NSW public servants were planning for a complete shutdown of the rail network days before it happened.
Premier Dominic Perrottet claimed to have been blindsided by the situation, which saw all services cease on Monday amid a dispute between the government and Rail Tram & Bus Industry Union representatives.
He went as far as to issue stern warnings to senior bureaucrats that he “should have been advised”.
However documents obtained by the ABC reportedly show plans tabled to the Fair Work Commission for a two-week long shutdown, finalised on February 16.
Industrial action, flagged by the union on February 9, was deemed too risky and rather than proceed with limited services, Sydney Trains bosses determined the action would be met with a total network shutdown.
On Sunday, after late night talks failed, the government declared a total shutdown, which lasted throughout Monday and caused chaos for many commuters.
Transport Minister David Elliott claimed to have been sleeping at the time of the decision, which was announced early on Monday morning.
Documents tabled to the FWC, four days prior to the shutdown, pre-empted what was to occur as the Minister slept.
“On 17 February 2022, in view of the finalised risk assessment, the executive leadership team made the decision that the rail network could not be operated for the two-week period commencing 21 February 2022,” Sydney Trains acting chief customer officer Jasbir Tumber said in a report to the commission.
NSW state opposition leader Chris Minns said on Thursday it was “implausible that the Minister or the Premier was not aware of this”.
Mr Tumber recommended the shutdown in response to “risks associated” with the union’s planned action.
Specifically, the union’s ban on “altered working” was seen as potentially dangerous by preventing train crews from deviating from their planned roster to respond to emergencies.
“If train crew do not accept altered working, Sydney Trains’ ability to respond flexibly and recover from incidents that may happen on the rail network will be completely hindered,” Mr Tumber said in the report.
“This could result in many services being terminated mid-journey, with passengers in the train, as the train crew would refuse to perform the altered services that need to be implemented in response to an incident.”
Following Monday’s chaos and public blowback, services were able to be partially restored, bringing some relief to travellers.
Initially, the union was blamed for directly causing the disruptions by implementing “strike” action and was heavily criticised by Mr Elliot as well as Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
As a result of comments made by Mr Morrison, the union said its workers had been “spat on, sworn at and even assaultedxjmtzyw by misinformed members of the public”.
The union called for an apology to workers and an acknowledgment that the decision to cancel services was made by Sydney Trains.
