GETTING Home safely Labor’s plan to make train travel safer on Friday and Saturday nights

Labor understands that the people of NSW deserve safe, reliable and comfortable public transport. As part of providing a public transport service that meets community needs a Foley Government will do all it can to make travelling on public transport safer.

That’s why Labor will:

• Re-introduce Guardian train services on Friday and Saturday nights; and

• Run all-night train services from Kings Cross to Town Hall and Central Stations.

Feeling safe and having confidence in the security on our trains is a major factor for people choosing whether or not to use the rail network, especially for women, parents with children, and older and other vulnerable people.

The NRMA’s Seeing Red on Rail reported personal security as the second most pressing issue for over 11,000 thousand commuters. 38% of commuters in this survey said that they do not feel safe at certain times of the day.

The Trains network includes 12 lines, 176 stations and many interchanges. NSW TrainLink network includes 5 intercity lines and over 130 stations. It is a large area to cover.

Knowing that there is assistance if other passengers are being anti-social, violent or abusive – especially at night, can increase the numbers of people using public transport as well as improve security.

Under the Baird Liberal Government, security on the rail network has been cut. When the Liberals and Nationals came to government in 2011 there were 600 dedicated transit officers for trains and 300 commuter police attached to local area commands.

The transit officers have been replaced by less than 600 Police in the Transport Command. The Police are required to patrol not just trains but all public transport including buses, light rail and ferries. The Police Transport Command is also required to assist other local area commands. This means there is a significant gap on the rail network when officers are pulled off trains to attend to other duties.

There are approximately up to 150 Transport Officers across the whole public transport network but they do not fulfil a security function. Their main role is fare compliance. There are concerns that the Transport officers do not have the powers and support they need to tackle fare evasion.

anewapproach.com.au GETTING Home safely Labor’s plan to make train travel safer on Friday and Saturday nights

The physical presence of security on trains has diminished significantly under the Baird Government. This has been demonstrated by the increase in commuter complaints about security. The Auditor General shows that in 2014 complaints regarding security issues have increased by 26%.

Labor believes that every person who wants to use our trains should be confident that they will feel safe and that there is enough security to provide a reassuring and highly visible presence for customers.

Guardian Services

Labor supports dedicated security on selected train services to give passengers – especially those travelling at night on the weekend – the comfort of knowing that they will get safely home.

That’s why Labor will invest $4.3 million to make train travel safer. We will re-introduce Guardian trains on the following services to operate at night to keep late night travellers safe.

Dedicated services will operate on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:30pm to as late as 2:15am, and will include the following lines:

Eastern Suburbs & Newcastle & Central Coast Line • Bondi Junction to Line • Bondi Junction to Kiama • Central to Newcastle Cronulla (until line is restored the South Line service will arrive at Airport & East Hills Line • Circular Quay to Hamilton) • Circular Quay to Campbelltown • Central to Wyong Campbelltown Western Line • Newcastle to Telarah • Central to Richmond (until line is restored • Central to Katoomba • Central to Penrith the service will depart from Hamilton) Bankstown Line • Circular Quay to North Shore and Northern Liverpool lines • Central to Hornsby via Inner West Line Macquarie Park. • Circular Quay to • Central to Hornsby Homebush Station via the North Shore

We will do this by renegotiating the Memorandum of Understanding between and NSW Police to guarantee dedicated security on Guardian designated trains.

anewapproach.com.au GETTING Home safely Labor’s plan to make train travel safer on Friday and Saturday nights

Labor will also:

• Renegotiate the MOU between Sydney Trains and NSW Police to guarantee more officers on trains more often.

• Review the role of Transport officers to ensure they have the powers, support and training they need to tackle fare evasion and other anti-social behaviour on the rail network.

All night rail service

The community has been shocked by tragic incidents involving excessive alcohol consumption in Sydney’s CBD, which has seen the introduction of a range of alcohol restrictions. While Labor called for and supports these measures, the Government failed to address the issue of late night transport.

Currently, the last train leaves Kings Cross at 1:41am on Saturday. The next train departing Kings Cross is not until 5:14am. This is not good enough. To ensure people get home safely on Friday and Saturday nights, they need to be able to move out of the CBD quickly.

That is why Labor commits to introducing an all-night train service from Kings Cross to Town Hall and Central Stations. The service would run both ways every 15 minutes on Friday and Saturday nights between 1:00am and 5:15am. Stations and train services would be staffed by Transit Police.

Labor would also investigate introducing late night train shuttles on other lines on the Sydney Trains network to provide better and more affordable Friday and Saturday late night transport options to Greater Sydney.

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