NSW’s $2 billion new trains are too wide to get through tunnels

Whereas the current trains are 2.9m wide, the new models being built in South Korea are 20cm wider. That small difference could have a big impact.

It means the new trains could collide with the tunnel walls on their way up to the world famous Blue Mountains.

But Transport for NSW (TfNSW), the Government body that manages the state’s rail system, has come up with a cunning plan. It has proposed simply relaxing current safety standards. In addition, 10 tunnels built in the 1900s will be partially modified to allow the new trains to run.

State opposition leader Luke Foley has said the government needs to show how they will guarantee passenger safety when the new trains are introduced from 2019.

“It takes a special type of incompetence to buy trains that don’t fit through the tunnels,” Mr Foley said.

Transport bosses have insisted the trains will operate safely but conceded that, in places, rules will have to be broken.

“There are parts of the network where it is not possible to fully comply with the modern standards due to physical constraints and in these circumstances, additional measures such as speed restrictions, varied track maintenance and timetabling are implemented to ensure safety,” a TfNSW spokesman said.”