Trains without air-conditioning leave commuters hot under the collar

The Waratah Project promised 78 new eight-carriage trains to ensure that the whole of the CityRail fleet was air-conditioned this summer. The first train was scheduled for delivery in April last year. It has since been delayed by up to 14 months and is not due until late May or early June.

Saunas on rails is just one aspect of a more general problem

“So much money is spent maintaining the rail service when we could do things with bus networks like bus rapid transit (BRT) that’s a lot cheaper; things that would cost millions not billions.” So says Associate Professor in Transport Management at the University of Sydney, Stephen Greaves.

The professor believes focus should be on both getting trains running on time and cutting travel times. “If commuters weren’t stuck on slow, cramped trains for so long, they wouldn’t fuss so much”. He added: “It takes hours to get to the Blue Mountains or the south coast - when if you were in London, you would be there in 40 minutes.”

Can we hope that this will be the last summer Sydney’s rail commuters will need to sweat it out on trains? Better not hope too hard.