But the turmoil is not over with another battle underway over the controversial New Intercity Fleet (NIF), the long-awaited multi-million dollar fleet first announced by the NSW government eight years ago.
Commuters have been hit by a budget outbreak, a two-year delay and persistent safety concerns on the new trains.
Now, 9News can only reveal video evidence illustrating security issues with the besieged navy ordered from South Korea.
The intercity fleet is scheduled to travel from Sydney to Lithgow on the Blue Mountains line, to the Central Coast and Newcastle and down to Kiama on the South Coast line.
Passengers would reportedly be at risk of crucial blind spots in surveillance, meaning they could have undetected accidents or fall into the gap between the train and the platform, and staff would not be able to hear them.
This is because drivers and guards have to rely solely on surveillance from CCTV cameras mounted on the sides of trains, which have no sound and limited visibility due to the design of the cars.
This will replace the current system of intercity guards that perform personal physical checks on passengers going on and off trains.
The Railway, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) took NSW Trains to the Federal Court last year to argue against the government’s plan to downgrade the role of guards to a single “customer service guard” limited to a crew room to monitor CCTV on each train.
Safety reports have examined the risks in several scenarios, ranging from passengers stuck indoors or flocking around a person, to emergency flags missing or a child being left on a platform.
CCTV provided to 9News also illustrates how rain and weather conditions can hamper visual surveillance.
Guards say the space between the train and the platform is hidden by open doors when the train is stationary, as the external cameras are mounted too close to the bodies of the cars, meaning they can not see if anyone falls into the hole when disembarking.
RBTU said staff are refusing to work on the new fleet due to safety concerns.
“The guards are unable to carry out the work they are doing today on the new intercity fleet,” said RBTU NSW Secretary Alex Claassens.
They are also concerned about the lack of sound and inability to monitor all angles of the screens at the same time.
NIF, which was originally scheduled to go into operation as early as 2019 but has been the subject of repeated delays, has been plagued by problems since the state government announced it was ordering trains from South Korea back in 2017.
Among the problems was that the trains were too wide to fit through some tunnels on the Blue Mountains line, which led to expansion work having to be carried out.
After campaigning from blind man Martin Stewart, who suffered horrific injuries after falling between the train and the platform on a train that was only a driver in Victoria, former Transport Minister Andrew Constance promised the guards would not be removed.
The union does not believe that the role of “customer service guard” is sufficient and remains locked in disputes with the government.
“This train was bought off the shelf from South Korea with the intention of getting rid of guards and giving them all a dismissal,” Mr Claassens said.
Many argued that a local train builder should have been chosen to construct the new fleet.
In April last year, Mr Constance said the NIF would run in “a few weeks” – but there is still no date for when the rollout will start.
The new Transport Minister David Elliott has inherited the issue and has since defended the NIF and blamed the union for the slowdown.
“It just shows the motive of the union when an independent safety regulator says these trains are good to run,” he said.
It is also understood that Mr Elliott is in negotiations on how to get the NIF into use.
“So far we have had some good talks and gone to the negotiations in good faith,” he said.
Which car has a duty to give way at this intersection?
It currently costs $ 500,000 a month to keep the trains in stock while the union refuses to operate them.