T1 North Shore Line down due to wiring fault

Repairs to a wiring fault on Sydney’s T1 North Shore Line that caused mass delays for city-bound commuters on Tuesday were completed by late morning, clearing the way for the rail operator to start restoring train services before the afternoon peak.

The loss of tension in an overhead wire south of Chatswood station resulted in the cancellation of city-bound services from Gordon to North Sydney, leaving commuters waiting for replacement buses in queues which stretched for more than 100 metres at stops during the morning peak.

Limited bus services had been replacing trains from Gordon to Chatswood, where commuters could travel towards the city on metro trains. The problem was due to a failure in a counterweight mechanism on the wires, causing them to sag.

Sydney Trains crews completed repairs shortly after 11am, and the rail operator worked to restore passenger services for the afternoon peak. Repair crews had been on the scene since Monday night when the failure was discovered about 9pm.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said the T1 line had been fully repaired and power restored, and the priority was to return to timetabled services ahead of the busy afternoon peak.

“Our objective is to minimise delays for passengers travelling on the rail network this afternoon, particularly those passengers travelling on the T9 and the T1 lines,” he said shortly after 1pm on Tuesday.

Longland said passengers should not expect significant delays to trains in the afternoon peak, although he conceded that there may be “isolated delays” to some services.

While the root cause of the failure is under investigation, Longland said a cable that held a counterweight mechanism appeared to have snapped on Monday night near Chatswood, causing the loss of tension in the overhead power lines.

“It was a steel cable that was suspending a set of weights that provide tension in the overhead line,” he said.

“As a result of that cable snapping [on Monday night], it created a sag in the lines, which meant that it was no longer safe to operate trains through that section of line inbound of Chatswood.”

The counterweight failure severely disrupted city-bound commuters on the T1 North Shore Line, but has also had a knock-on effect on the T9 Northern Line which runs between Hornsby and Strathfield. It also resulted in a reduction in train frequencies on the T1 Western Line.

Uber fares in Sydney’s north surged on Tuesday morning amid increased demand for the service. Two commuters who had been queuing for a bus at Roseville decided to split the cost of a $100 Uber ride to the Sydney CBD.

Roseville resident Anna Hill was stuck in a queue stretching for more than 100 metres from the train station to the Pacific Highway. “It’s crazy,” she said of the absence of buses running between Roseville and Chatswood station.

Another Roseville commuter, Toby Little, said he had been waiting about 40 minutes for a bus, and had seen four packed replacement buses pass him by in that time.

Commuters Eden Cleaver and James Brown were left waiting for an hour in a queue for a replacement bus on the Pacific Highway at Roseville.

Traffic was much heavier on local roads as commuters opted to drive. “You definitely don’t see traffic like this in Roseville,” said paralegal James Craig, who was late for work in North Sydney.

Trains that usually started from or ended at Lindfield and Gordon were beginning and ending at North Sydney.

The latest failure comes less than two weeks after overhead wiring fell onto a train near Redfern, causing power outages across critical sections of the rail network and major disruptions during the evening peak.

Coalition transport spokesperson Natalie Ward said commuters who were late for work or school were rightly frustrated by the latest failure. “This is the second major disruption in as many weeks on Labor’s watch,” she said.

“Just two months ago, the Minns Labor government was boasting of a $2.1 billion investment in train maintenance. Commuters this morning will be rightly asking what they have to show for it.”

Transport Minister John Graham said the government was investing a record $2.1 billion in maintaining the train network to minimise the number and severity of rail incidents like the one that had occurred.

“This was a serious incident. I want to thank passengers for their patience and the Sydney Trains team for working through the night to recover as quickly as possible,” he said.

Longland said the failure at Redfern on August 14 involved a piece of equipment short-circuiting and effectively melting an overhead wire, whereas Monday’s incident was due to a mechanism which was meant to keep the power lines tense.

“What we saw [on Monday] night was not an incident with the overhead wiring that carries power,” he said.

“Any time that overhead wiring is impacted, it does create a significant impact because trains can’t operate on the network when the power is out.”

Longland reiterated that there had been significant investment in improving the rail network’s reliability since a major review last year. “What we want to eliminate are these incidents that cause these significant delays,” he said.

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