Sydenham (NSW) Fatality

["Ken Neate" <kenneate@tig.com.au>]

Unfortunately, I happened to be on the train which struck a person just
north of Sydenham station this morning (0921 Quay to Macarthur, so for the
record the train was on the down Illawarra local, roughly eight car lengths
north, or City end, of the station).

As a commuter, I am often critical of Cityrail, but today the way the staff
on hand dealt with the aftermath of this tragedy was first rate.

We passengers were evacuated from the train (through the drivers cab, onto
the ballast) and escorted to Sydenham platform 4 in an orderly, safe and
courteous manner.

Services were resumed promptly on the Illawarra and East Hills lines plus
Bankstown Up by running all trains through Platforms 1 (Up) and 6 (Down).
Bankstown down services hand to be suspended as the Bankstown line cannot be
accessed from Platform 6.  I was thus able to take the next Macarthur
service which was running only 10 minutes late.  Presumably, delays did
build up somewhat as the day went on.