NSW Premier Chris Minns’ deal-making abilities will be tested as he leads crisis talks with rail unions threatening to cause commuter chaos over several days.
Trains from Newcastle to Wollongong and across Sydney are due to lay dormant from Friday morning until Sunday morning amid an escalating pay dispute between the state government and rail workers.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Last minute crisis talks underway to stop worst train strike in history.
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The premier and Transport Minister Jo Haylen are due to sit down on Thursday afternoon with six unions and peak body Unions NSW.
It is the third straight day the premier has been personally involved in trying to solve the months-long impasse resulting in escalating work bans.
“All arrangements are on the table,” Minns said during Question Time on Thursday.
“We want to get to a point where we minimise disruption for the people of NSW.
“If there’s something we can do this weekend to get an agreement, of course, we would do that.”
The opposition criticised the government for holding meetings day after day, rather than thrashing it out in one go.
“I can’t understand why you wouldn’t have stayed there yesterday all day until you got a deal done, until you got this sorted out,” opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said on Sydney radio 2GB.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes previously said the government was opting to stop trains rather than meet the union’s demand for 24-hour rail operations to prevent its industrial action.
“We have given them the ways and the means in which they can run trains this weekend … they are again choosing not to do that,” he said.
Services were run around the clock across the previous weekend to ward off stop-work bans, but transport officials say maintenance disruptions make that unsustainable long-term.
An offer to run one key line — Strathfield to Hornsby via Central — around the clock has not been accepted by unions.
The action comes against a backdrop of the union’s demand for 8 per cent pay rises annually.
The government says anything more than 11 per cent across three years is unaffordable.
The train network moves more than one million people on a typical day.
Transport for NSW said it was working to offer emergency transport options if rail services did not run.
Rideshare operators will limit surge pricing but fares will be higher than usual in some areas such as entertainment precincts to attract drivers.
Light rail services on Saturday will run a Friday timetable with more frequent services.
The Sydney Metro will run more frequent services on Friday but is mostly closed for maintenance at the weekend.
A “major event bus plan” is being developed to get people to Sydney Olympic Park, where a Pearl Jam concert is scheduled on Saturday.
The plan will be confirmed before then but will not be able to cater to all usual routes or capacities.