Commuters will travel free on Sydney trains during a busy football finals weekend, but a late pause to industrial action will still lead to delays and timetable headaches.
After failing to reach a breakthrough in emergency talks with the NSW government, the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union launched work bans across Sydney trains, including refusing to staff the extra services needed for a marquee weekend of events.
Late on Thursday, the government announced weekend trips would be free - meeting a key union demand of 50-cent fares and halting key elements of the industrial action.
Productive talks on Friday sorted other union concerns about construction on a planned metro conversion of an existing rail line, meaning works set to start later this month are now expected to go ahead.
However, the spectre of further disruption in the coming weeks still looms as workers call for a major pay increase.
The rail union is asking for a 32 per cent pay rise over four years and a 35-hour work week.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said there would still be disruptions over the weekend as officials worked through last-minute schedule changes.
"There are still some work bans in place which impact the way we respond to incidents and the types of timetables we can operate on," he said.
Sydney will host NRL and AFL finals - including the Swans' sold-out game against Port Adelaide at the SCG - and the Bledisloe Cup rugby union fixture from Friday night through the weekend.
The free rail services will run across the whole rail network, including the metro, on Saturday and Sunday.
The union's threat to shut down the entire Bankstown T3 train line - from Liverpool in Sydney's southwest to the city centre - appears over, after Transport Minister Jo Haylen said late on Friday the works would go ahead as planned.
The government confirmed additional staffing would be added to those metro services, mirroring the city section where a staff member is on board every train and at every platform once operational.
Earlier, Unions NSW assistant secretary and lead negotiator Thomas Costa denied the campaign was really about an objection to driverless trains, despite the union's website describing the conversion as an "attack on working people" and "automation for the sake of automation".
He added there were "serious safety concerns" about metro services on the 150-year-old line, which ran at ground level and put workers at risk of being struck.
Ms Haylen thanked the union for Friday's negotiations.
“We have had very productive conversations, and I am pleased that we have been able to reach an agreement that enables both the unions and government to move ahead,” she said.
“We have agreed together to commence an intensive period of bargaining, to accelerate the work on a new enterprise agreement … I will meet with the rail unions again next week to progress all matters.”
Premier Chris Minns said the safety concerns would be addressed by the national regulator not the government, but he would take the union at their word that their primary concern was safety.
"I'm not a train expert - there's an independent regulator who's responsible for signing off on every public transport program across the entire country," he said.
