Two men charged following the alleged vandalism of crucial rail signalling equipment in Sydney overnight were not targeting football fans, police say.
The shutdown of the rail lines saw thousands of people stranded following the Australia vs England FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-final at Sydney Olympic Park.
Premier Chris Minns and Transport Minister Jo Haylen today apologised for the delays, though also said that it had not been a failure of the system.
“Thousands of passengers were inconvenienced, and I want to apologise to them,” Haylen said.
Minns said “there are reasons for it, but there are no excuses for it”.
Shortly before 10.30pm, Sydney Trains began warning travellers of delays on what eventually became the majority of train lines as a result of power supply issues at Ashfield.
Police said they were called to Ashfield station at about 11pm after reports of malicious damage.
A 47-year-old man was arrested nearby at about 1am, and a 33-year-old man was arrested a short time later.
Both men were charged with a range of offences including aggravated break and enter, destroying or damaging property and endangering the safety of a person on the railway.
Police will allege in court that the two men broke into a restricted transport facility and damaged critical signalling infrastructure at the site.
They were both refused bail and will appear in court today.
On Thursday morning, Minns said a review would follow in coming days.
“Clearly the government has to look at the security of the rail network,” he said.
He praised the work of Transport for NSW employees, and the conduct of the crowd, who showed “real restraint and understanding”.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Tracey Chapman said there was no indication so far that the alleged vandals had intentionally targeted the World Cup match.
“Simply a senseless act by two individuals,” she said.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland defended the lack of replacement buses, saying the bus network had been “at capacity” with 207 vehicles on the roads.
He said the amount of buses that could have been diverted would have been unlikely to effectively reduce a crowd the size of the one stranded at Sydney Olympic Park.
Frustration pours over during wait
The waits sparked fury among fans, who complained on social media of a lack of communication and failure to prepare for what was always going to be a huge night.
Luke Combs concert at nearby Qudos Bank Arena was also adding pressure to the struggling transport network.
Transport for NSW said it warned rideshare operators of the problem and the Olympic Park precinct was clear of crowds by about midnight.
“City-bound trains from Olympic Park were being diverted via the T3 Bankstown Line and there were flow-on delays at Lidcombe and Olympic Park Stations,” it said, in a statement released on Thursday morning.
“Sydney Trains has reported the incident to NSW Police, with investigations underway.
“Specialist engineers were immediately deployed to rectify the issue and services were restored within approximately 90 minutes.”
It wasn’t until 1 am that Sydney Trains informed passengers trains were “now able to move freely through the affected area”.
Delays were still expected throughout the night.
Those left with long waits were furious, labelling the situation an “utter disgrace”, “epic fail” and worse.
“There are train fulls of people from Olympic park offloaded at Lidcombe station with zero information about where to go next…,” one X user wrote.
“Thousands of people running between stations & trains, crowd crushes, and no announcements from staff or correct signage…debacle.”
Earlier, fans with tickets making a late dash to the semi-final were left in the lurch when urgent repairs to trains at Redfern Station caused some delays.
Transport for NSW said that while services were running frequently, trips to Olympic Park were taking about 15 minutes longer than expected.
Matildas show their heart after agony of defeat
Meanwhile in Melbourne, fans stormed barriers after the live site reached capacity.
Discussion about this post