Sincere thoughts and prayers are with people from Sydney who have not only had to deal with the knowledge their city officially recorded its wettest year on record, but have also had to fight for their lives trying to get home from work after train tracks at Central flooded on Thursday.
The concept of tracks flooding and trains being rendered useless is very 19th century to me. It almost feels like we should start calling the big, metal beasts “locomotives” again.
The T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T7, T8 and T9 lines have all been affected by wet weather chaos, with a slew of services cancelled and some trains delayed for hours according to TripView.
https://twitter.com/reneshaf/status/1577975995591970817
“Your travel time may take longer than usual,” a Transport for NSW message said.
“Use suburban train services to get closer to your destination and re-join your usual train once the flooding subsides.
“Service gaps will occur on these lines.”
Commuters took to social media to share fucked footage of people waiting for delayed trains and by Jove, did those platforms look overcrowded. It was giving extremely uncomfortable sardines crammed in a tin, all of whom simply wanted to get home and crack open a bottle of plonk.
https://twitter.com/ben_hr/status/1577916335291437056
Logjam on Sydney’s suburban rail network with trains here waiting and platforms ahead already full. Guard says the rain has impacted the city loop network #rain #nswfloods pic.twitter.com/7TBMBDR4KM
— Chris Griffith (@chris_griffith) October 6, 2022
Sydney: Rains
Sydney Trains: well no one could have possibly predicted this pic.twitter.com/0Xv52pzvK6
— Scott (@SouthamScott) October 6, 2022
It’s going well. 7:20pm
Glad we have all that constant trackwork and maintenance every weekend so the #sydneytrains network doesn’t fail if the weather turns 🙄 pic.twitter.com/VGYvGfJI37
— Lord of the Dance 🌨️🍻🚳🌶️💉🧵🍑💩🕺♻️ (@trashyhonky) October 6, 2022
Twitter user @stilgherrian said there were reports the “southbound platform at North Sydney” had been closed momentarily due to overcrowding.
Hearing that the southbound platform at North Sydney has been closed briefly due to overcrowding because the trains are borked at Central.
— Stilgherrian (@stilgherrian) October 6, 2022
Other people on Twitter shared how badly their commutes had been hit by the delays and honestly, my heart goes out to them. I can’t imagine how goddamn frustrating it would’ve been to be stuck on a train for literal hours because your city’s public transport system is unequipped to handle rain.
After getting trampled on the platform at North Sydney station I’ve been on a train from North Sydney for exactly one hour… It’s just arrived at Town Hall. It’s packed. Name a better way to spend a Thursday evening. I’ll wait. #Sydneyrain #weather #Sydneytrains
— Zoe Hunt (@zoeahunt1002) October 6, 2022
I’ve now been 4hrs on a train from Parramatta to the city, and I’m not even at Central yet! #sydneytrains
— Samantha Dunn (@samspagirl) October 6, 2022
https://twitter.com/AshishDasnurkar/status/1577972600675835904
You know the train network is a mess when your fellow passengers cheer each time the carriage moves. 1h 45mins to go from North Sydney to Central 😢
— Clifford Kennedy 🇺🇦 (@CliffordKennedy) October 6, 2022
Hey #SydneyTrains … I really enjoyed been stuck on a train for over an hour just to get to one stop. Also fun fact: Who knew light rain could stop a train, actually many trains… Move over superman, we got rain!#Nswtrains #cityrail #shittyrail
— Seizure Kaiser (@iAmSeizure) October 6, 2022
Pity party for the poor souls commuting from Parra to Wollo tonight, our commute home took over 6 hours. Left Parra at 515 ish and still not home. #sydneytrains #SydneyWeather
— Mel (@melhuntsman1) October 6, 2022
On a train from Katoomba to Sydney’s Central… already closing in on an hour late with the delay spent a couple of Kms from the destination. Pity those who rely on this substandard service on a daily basis…
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) October 6, 2022
https://twitter.com/BrisbanePie1862/status/1577956091987922944
The revolting train delays come as the Babes of Meteorology (BoM) warned an “enormous” rain event would be penetrating Down Under this week.
If you live in New South Wales, unfortunately, a lot of the sogginess is predicted to hit your state and cause flooding.
The BoM reckons Sydney will cop 30mm of rain by Friday, and around 100mm over the weekend.
BoM Meteorologist Dean Narramore told News.com.au: “Many of our gauges across inland NSW are experiencing minor, moderate or major flooding.”
“That’s been increasing over the last few days.
“And this is before the forecast rainfall has even occurred. That’s why we’re so worried about the rainfall in the coming days.”
At this stage, it’s unclear how long Sydney’s train network will be affected by the wild weather. If you do need to catch public transport, commuters are being urge to check Transport for NSW for updates and other transport options.
Stay safe out there, mates.