Rail timetable 'backflip' welcomed

Train travellers have breathed a sigh of relief and there’s been praise for the Minns government after its shock decision on Saturday to scrap plans to introduce a controversial new rail timetable for the South Coast.

Thousands of commuters each week would have been inconvenienced should the changes have gone ahead in less than three weeks time.

Announcing the news, Premier Chris Minns said: “The truth of the matter is, since we released the train timetable I haven’t run into anybody who supported the change.

“I’d rather apologise and backflip on a policy like this than implement a change people don’t want.”

The new timetable, which was to take effect from 15 November, would have resulted in more regular services on the South Coast line, but with that there’d be extra stops required for commuters wanting to travel to the airport or beyond Central towards Bondi Junction.

Dawn Peacock, from Woonona, organised a petition to Member for Keira, Ryan Park, asking for the proposed changes to be scrapped.

“It’s good to see our voices have been heard at last by the NSW government,” Dawn said. “No matter what segment of transport users we come from, we are all saying with one voice, that we want safe, reliable and more efficient connection to all our major transport hubs from the South Coast.

“We don’t want the government to take away what’s working in a piecemeal fashion and to offer it up as the only solution for someone while taking away services from others.”

Dawn has this advice for the government before making any future changes: “Fix the systems and the outdated infrastructure to provide a better solution for all travellers, in all parts of our region. We don’t expect to get very fast trains or free bus trips to connect us to the airport, we are simply asking for a reliable and well connected train service.”

The Thirroul Village Committee was quick to applaud the government’s surprise change in direction, describing it as a “great win for our voice”.

“A big thank you must go to our local MP Maryanne Stuart who has been taking up the fight on our behalf,” said TVC’s Elliott Stein.

The South Coast Labour Council and Unions Shoalhaven also campaigned hard to see the timetable changes stopped after being flooded with complaints from their members.

Celebrating the news, Pat David, secretary of Unions Shoalhaven, said: “This is an important reminder that when our community stands together and speaks up, we can make a difference.”

Arthur Rorris, head of the South Coast Labour Council, described the weekend about face as “a smart move by the Minns government”.

“Clearly the new timetable they proposed was met with very broad opposition and concern," he said.

“People need to understand, the transport system is our lifeblood. The Illawarra to Sydney line is one of the biggest and most patronised in the country. What was proposed just didn’t cut the mustard and we are pleased that common sense has prevailed.

“I hope in the future, when changes are made there is much better consultation with the experts, the people who run this network day by day,” Arthur said.

A local rail expert, Dr Philip Laird, agrees that the changes proposed seemed doomed to fail through a lack of proper engagement with regular rail users.

“It seems to me that if Transport for NSW had gone to community consultation, as they did over 10 years ago when the last big timetable change for South Coast trains was made, they would have produced a better plan.”

Philip said he remains hopeful that T4NSW “can soon produce some improved improvements to our train timetable”.

He also hopes the commencement of passenger flights from the new Western Sydney International Airport will provide the impetus to see better public transport connectivity between the Illawarra and South West Sydney, including Campbelltown, Appin, Picton and Wilton.

“The new airport should give impetus to not only new and improved bus services but also a South West Illawarra Rail Link, which is another name for Maldon-Dombarton,” Philip said.

“It remains one of the most studied, partly completed pieces of infrastructure on planet earth. But then, Australia has the most studies with no construction to date for high-speed rail.”