The rail review was prompted by the May 2025 failure of overhead wiring at Homebush, which affected almost all of the Sydney Trains network. Photos: Screenshots.
An independent review into Sydney Trains has been described as sobering by the NSW Government, and it has accepted all recommendations stemming from the investigation.
The Sydney Trains network covers not just the Sydney metropolitan area, but extends south to Bomaderry in the Illawarra, north to Newcastle, and west as far as Bathurst.
Authored by Dr Kerry Schott, Carolyn Walsh and Trevor Armstrong, the Independent Rail Review into Sydney Trains was commissioned after an overhead wiring failure at Homebush on 20 May, 2025, brought the Sydney Trains systems to a grinding halt for up to two days in some parts of the network.
The only line not affected by the outage was the Illawarra Line between Bomaderry and Bondi Junction, as that line is the only one that completely bypasses the area of the wiring failure.
The review examined the cause of the incident, the impact of recent repair and fleet investment, and whether passenger communications were adequate during major disruptions.
Specific findings include: the overhead wire that failed had been identified as a risk in 2020 but was never entered into Sydney Trains’ defect management system and not repaired; the fault caused city-wide disruption, impacting multiple lines; recovery of services was far too slow, including a three-hour operation to detrain passengers; and communication with passengers and within the Rail Operations Centre (ROC) was inadequate.
As a result, the government has pledged to overhaul maintenance, incident management and passenger communications after systemic failings. It says it has accepted all 12 recommendations of the review and will invest $458.4 million over four years to implement them with clear timelines and accountability measures.
These actions will include the implementation of maintenance-critical zones on the network, starting with the Homebush-Strathfield corridor, where multiple lines converge, and a four-year asset renewal program that will upgrade track, signals, overhead wiring and drainage in flood-prone areas.
An investment of more than $450 million will be made into improved maintenance schedules, better communications and incident responses, and equipment upgrades across the network.
Other actions will see a move from time-based to risk-based maintenance, which will target areas with the greatest impact on network reliability; the establishment of two new rapid incident response teams of 32 staff, to be based at Redfern and Homebush; and the appointment of a new Executive Director of Incident Response and Service Recovery.
Technology improvements will include annual digital scans of the overhead wiring network, and new laser hand-held devices that will replace binocular inspections to check wire thickness and significantly improve accuracy.
The new Mariyung intercity fleet will soon replace the older V-Sets on the Blue Mountains Line in October and on the South Coast Line in 2026, while a greater emphasis will be placed on recruitment to address staff shortages that have caused cancellations and delays on intercity services.
Transport Minister John Graham said the people of Sydney and the wider region expected a safe and reliable rail network, and admitted that it was currently not up to scratch.
“The review makes tough reading for the government and will be disappointing for those 1.1 million people who rely on Sydney Trains every day,” he said.
“Even more so for commuters who were inconvenienced, or even stranded, on trains and platforms that day.
“This review shows just how much work there is to do, and we’re determined to get on with it.
“Incidents are inevitable from time to time on a rail network the size and age of Sydney’s, but the missteps and mishandling of the response ensured two days of chaos on our city’s public transport system when a well-managed response could — and should — have limited disruption to one day.
“A well-managed rail maintenance program could – and should – have fixed this fault after it was detected and prevented the disruption affecting so many.
“I want to thank the reviewers for their work. The government is accepting all their recommendations and Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW will now have specific timelines to implement the improvements needed.”
