Lower north shore commuters in shock after Sydney Metro doors wide open at 100km/h

By ANNA USHER

Lower north shore commuters standing inside a packed Sydney Metro running between Chatswood and Crows Nest were shocked to find a door wide open while the service was making its way to Victoria Cross Station on Wednesday.

Video obtained by Mosman Collective shows a packed 8.01am carriage, with what appears to be two workers dressed in black blocking the exit.

Some travellers were seen filming the open doors – which had a “this door is out of service” sign written on the digital board above the exit.

The two workers, with earpieces in, were seen speaking into walkie-talkies as passengers stood silently while the train hit speeds of around 100 kilometres/hour.

Metro Trains Sydney Chief Executive Daniel Williams said the door fault was being investigated after it was identified about 8.01am with the service travelling between Chatswood and Crows Nest.

“There was Customer Journey Coordinator (CJC) and Customer Operations Lead (COL) on board the service,” Mr Williams said.

“They were contacted by our Operational Control Centre. They tried to remotely fix the issue. When this was unsuccessful, the OCC instructed the frontline staff to manually close the door.”

The RTBU secretary, Toby Warnes, said Metro workers “were put at incredible risk” following the incident.

“Videos circulating online of the train speeding through a tunnel with passengers near the open door were “harrowing,” Warnes said in a statement.

“Anyone wondering why we need workers on our Metro services only needs to look at this video.

“You can’t have trains – Metro or otherwise – driving without qualified people on board to keep passengers safe in the event things go wrong. As we’ve seen this morning, unfortunately, things do go terribly wrong sometimes. It’s a miracle that no one was hurt, or worse.”

“This is one of the worst safety incidents we’ve seen on any train across the New South Wales trains network in some years.”

As investigations get under way, NSW Premier Chris Minns accused the Rail, Train, and Bus Union of a “massive overreaction”, amid calls to shut the system down following the door mishap.

“That would disrupt tens of thousands of people that need the Metro to get to and from work,” Mr Minns said during a test run of the Campsie Metro service on Thursday.