2017 Timetable Readiness Program

The 2017 Timetable change was the first major timetable change across Sydney since 2013 and the first under a modified governance/regulatory relationship between Sydney Trains (as operator) and Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) (as statutory transport authority / system owner).

The changes to the SWTT (Standard Working Timetable) would be part of a two-staged approach to increase train services by 17% across the network. The first stage (2017) covered the T1 - North Shore, Northern & Western Line and the second (2018) will cover changes to the remainder of the network based upon the impact of the commissioning of the new Sydney Metro Line North West – including releasing the Epping to Chatswood line for conversion from Train to Metro operation.

To enable the 2017 Timetable, the Engineering and Maintenance Directorate (EMD), covering both on-track and fleet maintenance, procured Network Rail Consulting to ensure a consistent safety assurance and risk management approach across their 2017 TT readiness program. The key impacts on EMD included:

• A significant increase in night-working across the Network Bases that cover the T1 line and, as part of this, a drive to significantly reduce Lookout Working (LoW) and instead utilise higher levels of protection such as Local Protection Authorities (LPAs) and Absolute Signal Blocking (ASBs);
• A move from reliance on ad-hoc track access to repeatable, periodic set windows for maintenance activity - built into the timetable through a Special Train Notice (STN) and with enhanced pre-planning, co-ordination and on-site planning and possession documentation;
• A switch to mandatory use of dedicated contract Protection Officers (POs) to manage the set-up and release of protection arrangements for the worksites, as opposed to utilising Sydney Trains staff who alternate between PO responsibilities and hands-on maintenance work;
• Changes to rosters to ensure the new commitments can be met whilst still enabling necessary incident response staff requirements and without increasing fatigue risks;
• Acceleration or re-ordering of Annual Works Plan and defect removal works to increase resilience/reliability across the T1 line and decrease the likelihood of asset failure under the new traffic levels; and
• The need for analysis, modelling and changes on the ground associated with uplifts train movements, maintenance schedules, necessary cleaning and field maintenance – to enable simultaneous availability of more trains, a 10-40% increase in KMs travelled across elements of both Sydney Trains and Contractor managed fleet, and the re-introduction of 12 “S” sets into regular service.