Commuters face ‘isolated delays’ in afternoon peak after Sydney train chaos

A wiring fault on Sydney’s T1 North Shore Line is threatening mass delays for city-bound commuters on Tuesday, with urgent repairs forecast to last the morning peak.

The loss of tension in an overhead wire near Chatswood Station has resulted in the cancellation of services between Gordon and Chatswood, where limited bus services will replace trains. This is due to a failure in the cutaway mechanism on the wires, causing the wires to sag.

Repair crews have been on scene since Monday night when the issue was discovered.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland expects the repairs to continue for the entirety of the morning peak, and advised commuters to consider alternative train or Metro routes.

When asked just before 6am on Tuesday to estimate when the line would reopen, Longland said: “The best case would be mid-morning.”

“Once repairs are done we need to do testing before they re-energise those lines, so quite a process to work through to make sure everything’s safe,” Longland told 2GB.

The wiring issue will only disrupt city-bound commuters on the North Shore Line. Trains that normally start from or end at Lindfield and Gordon will now start or end at North Sydney. Services on the T9 Northern and T1 Western Line could also be affected, according to the NSW Transport Management Centre.

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