Sydney rail maintenance workers have hit back at claims they are to blame for repeated breakdowns on the railways, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Members of The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union say managers from the New South Wales-owned rail service corporation RailCorp had been warned of safety dangers on the trains two years ago.
The allegations come after a safety locking mechanism failed in Sydney last Thursday, allowing a roof hatch to blow open on the Harbour Bridge, pulling down power lines and bringing Sydney's rail system to a halt.
The paper reports that a maintenance worker had contacted the Australian Office of Transport Safety Investigation in 2005 after discovering safety chains were missing from roof hatches on a suburban train – the chains form part of the same locking mechanism which failed last week.
The state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Paul Bastionhas, has gone on record saying RailCorp management, and not maintenance employees, are to blame for repeated failures on the network.
But the Transport Minister, John Watkins, responded by saying RailCorp had made appropriate responses to the 2005 report by reviewing the procedures undertaken by both drivers and maintenance workers.
