Sydney Trains step up amid bushfire crisis

Teams across the state are doing us proud in restoring roads and services, putting in an extraordinary effort while working in incredibly tough conditions to support communities in responding to the bushfire crisis.

And the hard work and challenges for our people didn’t stop during the Christmas break.

Sydney Trains response crews have continued to work hard to assess the NSW fires damage on our train network and one of the major challenges they’ve faced is damage to the Blue Mountains Line between Mt Victoria and Lithgow.

This is a huge area taking in roughly 27km of railway line involving thousands of pieces of infrastructure, from overhead wiring and stanchions, to fibre optic cabling and signal relays deep underground.

Due to the bushfires there’s been extensive damage to signalling infrastructure, power poles, signalling relay huts and sadly - the loss of the heritage listed Newnes Junction signal box which had been standing since 1910.

Teams have already begun the mammoth task of repairing this infrastructure so that we can run trains as soon as possible. However, it's important to remember that safety of our staff and customers is our number one priority, and this may take some time. At this stage, there is no forecast for when the line will be able to reopen.

A huge thank you to all of our staff who have been working to keep people moving. From frontline NSW TrainLink customer service staff and train crew, to Sydney Trains infrastructure workers and response crews.

Please visit transportnsw.info for the latest disruption information.