People travelling to major sporting events in Sydney will get free public transport, as the rail union threatens to inflict serious chaos on the network amid an escalating dispute.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union failed to reach a breakthrough in emergency talks with the NSW government on Wednesday night after beginning rolling industrial action that morning.
Travel to weekend NRL and AFL finals - including the Swan's sold-out game against Port Adelaide at the SCG - and the Bledisloe Cup rugby union fixture could be disrupted because of a union ban on the provision of the extra services required.
Pre-empting the trouble, Transport Minister Jo Haylen announced on Thursday night travel to and from those matches would be free, along with all train travel across Sydney for the weekend.
The union is also threatening to shut down the entire T3 train line - from Liverpool in Sydney's southwest to the city centre - if the government pushes ahead with plans to convert part of it to driverless metro standards.
The conversion requires closing the Sydenham-Bankstown section from September 30, but Ms Haylen warned union work bans could delay the construction altogether at a cost to taxpayers of $100 million per month.
The rail union said the conversion is unsafe and represents a different beast to newly constructed metro lines elsewhere in Sydney.
But NSW secretary Toby Warnes rejected claims the action had anything to do with wanting qualified drivers on the automated metro services, and said it could be avoided without a single dollar being spent.
“We put a comprehensive package on the table to the government last night that didn't include putting drivers on trains, and the government walked away from the table,” he said.
Safety concerns around the 150-year-old Bankstown line, which operate at ground level and put workers at risk of being struck by the driverless trains, have been put to the government for six years, according to the RBTU.
Worker representatives are also growing frustrated with the government as it tries to negotiate a new enterprise agreement for train staff.
The union is asking for a 32 per cent pay rise over four years, a 35-hour working week and a series of safety improvements.
"Two things are going on here in parallel," Ms Haylen said of the twin disputes.
"For some months (we) have been in the bargaining room going through the log of claims ... what is separate to that is the union's opposition to the metro conversion."
An agreement could still be met before the weekend, she said.
The industrial action is the most significant from the union since the Labor government came to power in March 2023.
Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the union was giving the "bird sign" to the people of NSW.
“They want to stop a metro conversion that was endorsed by all major parties at the last election … this government is too afraid to upset the rail union instead of staring them down,” he said.
Sydney's transport network was gripped by chaos in 2022 as unions and the then-coalition government negotiated over pay and provisions on new, overseas-built trains.
