The NSW Liberal Government was warned of the potential for a train network failure a year ago, and did nothing, confidential documents reveal.

The documents show that the government was warned of a failure of its digital communications system due to obsolete components.

Last week, hundreds of thousands of passengers were inconvenienced after the communications failure led to a shutdown of the entire train network.

Under the Liberals, passengers are experiencing more delays and safety is falling behind.

Sydney Trains on-time running is at 78.3 per cent – 14 per cent below target.

The most recent maintenance backlog for the 2021-22 year was $670 million.

This was up from $440m in 2019-20.

Quotes attributable to Jo Haylen, NSW Shadow Minister for Transport:

“Passengers simply want a safe and reliable public transport system.
 

“The Liberal government was warned a year ago that components in the Digital Train Radio System were already obsolete.

“They knew that this could put the whole train network at risk but not enough has been done because there is no accountability.

“Passengers are yet again paying the price because no one knows who is in charge.”