Police have charged two men for allegedly damaging transport infrastructure after a power problem caused chaos and frustration for people heading home from Australia’s heartbreaking 3-1 Women’s World Cup semifinal loss to England.Police said cables in a railway signal box at Ashfield were allegedly cut and equipment damaged, affecting signalling equipment across the network.
Two men, aged 47 and 33, were arrested near Ashfield Railway Station about 1am and questioned at Burwood Police Station overnight.
Both men were charged with aggravated break and enter and endangering the safety of a person on the railway, while the 47-year-old was also charged with possessing a prohibited drug and breach of bail.
Police will allege the two men broke into a restricted transport facility and damaged critical signalling infrastructure at the station.
The result of the damage was tens of thousands of people being stranded, mostly at Sydney Olympic Park, where it was estimated 100,000 people had gathered for both the football at Stadium Australia and country singer Luke Combs’s concert at Qudos Bank Arena.
The issue was resolved about midnight with trains back to running on time, after delays of over an hour.
The NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen on Thursday morning apologised to passengers but said it was not a sign the system was broken.
“Thousands of passengers were inconvenienced and I want to apologise to them, particularly those who waited for a long time at Sydney Olympic Park,” she said.
“It’s not a way that you want to end a night and I understand their frustrations.”
Passengers were alerted to the power supply issue by social media, and at railway stations, where city-bound services on the T1, T2, T7, T8 and T9 lines suffered major delays.
“Allow extra travel time due to vandalism of equipment at Ashfield,” Sydney Trains said.
“Trains may be stopping at different platforms and may be delayed while the incident is ongoing.
“Work crews are on site and we anticipate delays to continue throughout the evening.
“Please consider using alternate transport methods for your journey home.”