Oh dear. It just drags on and on....
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...ous&mode=premium&v21=GROUPA-Segment-2-NOSCORE
Opening date is still a mystery as Metro debacle lingers on
The safety sign-off for the $21.6 billion rail line is now a formality but the Minns government has still not been able to set a date for when the troubled project will launch.
The Minns government is refusing to say when Sydney’s $21.6 billion Metro project will open, despite the national safety regulator finally receiving everything it needs to give final sign-off.
In a statement, the National Rail Safety Regulator said it has “now received the evidence to support the operational safety case”.
It is “continuing its assessment” of the Metro, and “working as quickly as possible,” the statement said.
“The assessment is now well advanced with finalisation subject to the standard verifications/clarifications.”
The Daily Telegraph understands that evidence was received on Friday, after the firefighters’ union said the safety issues that had been preventing the Metro opening had been resolved.
Despite the resolution, a spokesman for the Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) on Friday still gave no guarantee that it would sign off on the project.
The FBEU is currently locked in talks with the government demanding a 20 per cent pay rise over three years.
NSW Secretary Leighton Drury has previously said the pay negotiations are separate to safety concerns that have plagued the Metro’s opening.
A ban on FBEU members conducting safety drills in Metro tunnels was blamed in part for the project’s delay. The union raised dozens of safety failures with the government, which have now been fixed.
In a statement, a spokesman for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the metro is “not far off”.
“(We) are awaiting final approval from the office of the national rail safety regulator,” he said.
“Once we receive approval from the national regulator we will have more to say.”
Ms Haylen was embarrassingly forced to postpone the Metro’s opening last month because it did not yet have final safety approval.
The delay has angered local businesses who were counting on the increased patronage from the $21.6bn project.
“Due to the delays we’re losing a lot of foot traffic, we’re already facing struggles at the moment taking that away and having a delayed development is really impacting our business,” Avenue on Chifley owner Bianca Austin said.
Ms Austin said her cafe had seen a “rapid decrease in revenue” since Covid.
“Without people coming in we have no business, without business I can’t hire staff or give them the hours that they require,” she said.
“It’s a little embarrassing being like ‘hey we’re here, we’re open.’”
In a further embarrassment, the Telegraph revealed last week that Transport for NSW was selling single-use Opal tickets to stations which still have no opening date.
On July 30, the day the Metro’s opening was delayed, Premier Chris Minns said the project would be open in “a couple of weeks”.
Now, two weeks later, there is still no date set in stone.
