Slow zone on the South West Rail Link

Train drivers on the South West Rail Link were recently issued with an urgent message to dramatically reduce their speed between Edmonson Park and Leppington.

Where they could previously travel 115km an hour they were suddenly told they must go no faster than 10km/hr in one direction and 40km/hr in the other. Since then, the speed limit has been lifted to 60km/hr and 80km/hr.

Sydney Trains offered drivers no explanation about the changes leaving many of our members to wonder if it was safe to drive along those tracks at all.

“A 10km per hour speed limit is a significant event, so there’s obviously something that has the potential to be quite dangerous,” RTBU Locomotive Division Passenger Organiser Bob Newham told Channel 9 news.

It has since been revealed that Sydney Trains ordered the speed changes after engineers conducting a regular sweep discovered cracks in the rails.

The line is only six months old and this raises important questions about the quality of the infrastructure.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this issue.