Sydney is facing commuter chaos later this week, with the city's rail network set to shut down for nearly three days.
Initially, industrial action was meant to begin on Thursday. This has now been delayed to Friday.
A months-long dispute between the NSW government and the state branch of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) escalated on Tuesday when Transport Minister Jo Haylen announced no train services would run between Thursday and Sunday this week.
But Sydney Trains met with the RTBU on Tuesday night and agreed to run a regular train service on Thursday, including 86 additional special event services to Olympic Park for the Thursday night Pearl Jam concert.
There will still be some service reductions and cancelled services on Thursday that will impact passengers travelling to and from Newcastle, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands, and the Illawarra.
The RTBU did not agree to lift their planned industrial action for Friday through to Sunday morning.
The rail union has been increasing work bans and threatening to strike if 24-hour services weren't available on those four days.
While the government agreed to that last weekend, transport officials said it was not possible this week and instead proposed running a 24-hour service between Hornsby and Strathfield.
“If we continue to try and run 24-hour services over the weekend that fact is that it will eventually lead to the failure of our rail network,” Haylen said.
The industrial action is expected to impact Sydney inter-city and suburban lines.
More than one million people use Sydney trains on a typical day. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
RTBU secretary Toby Warnes said while the initial four-day shutdown was the government's decision, the union was prepared to take some blame.
"Yes, the public may hold us responsible for the shutdown, but they should only hold us responsible for the shutdown on the Friday and the Saturday night, and only to the extent that they understand or that they believe that the government can't actually run 24-hour services," he told reporters on Tuesday.
More than one million people use Sydney trains on a typical day.
Extra bus and other services will be rolled out, but the shutdown will strain the capacity of replacement transport.
The Sydney Metro from Chatswood in the north to Sydenham in the inner west is also closed for maintenance on the weekend, with Transport for NSW advising commuters to "use train services".
Additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press
