3rd February, 2026.
I raise the issue of a train service, not as fondly as the member for Davidson, who also spoke about trains today. Many people rely on or have tried to rely on the southern line running from Campbelltown down into the Southern Highlands. To be very clear, this is not a complaint about one bad day, one delayed train or one unlucky breakdown. This is about a pattern of unreliability, neglect and a growing sense that regional passengers are simply expected to put up with less. If you catch this line regularly, you already know the story: trains that are late so often it is almost surprising when they are on time; services cancelled with very little warning; breakdowns that leave passengers stranded—sometimes for long stretches—without clear information or alternatives. People miss work. Students miss classes. Appointments are lost. Family commitments are disrupted. Yet this continues to be treated as normal.
For many commuters on this line, running late is not an exception; it is the default. Timetables feel more like vague suggestions than promises. You plan your day with buffers and backup plans because trusting the train to get you where you need to be when you need to be there simply is not realistic. Then there is the condition of the trains themselves. These are long journeys. Campbelltown to the Southern Highlands is not a quick suburban hop; it can be hours for some passengers. Yet basic amenities are failing. The onboard toilet—something that should be a minimum standard—is often locked or unavailable. That is not just inconvenient; it is unacceptable. What are elderly passengers, people with medical conditions and parents travelling with children supposed to do? When a toilet is locked on a long-distance service, it sends a very clear message: Passenger comfort and dignity are not priorities. What makes this even more frustrating is that this line services growing communities. The Southern Highlands are expanding. We are left with ageing infrastructure, unreliable rolling stock and a sense that investment always seems to happen somewhere else.
Why am I making this speech today when I had planned to do it next week? Today for the residents of the Southern Highlands, the morning commute once again turned into a logistical nightmare. A train broke down at Tahmoor last night, meaning there were no commuter trains today. The freight train broke down last night but at 7.00 a.m. it still had not been moved. People went from carriages to coaches between Picton and Moss Vale—just an extra 90 minutes. I quote Highlands Opinion:
This latest incident isn't merely a stroke of bad luck; it is a symptom of a rail artery that is increasingly unfit for purpose. While the government celebrates infrastructure milestones in the city, the Southern Highlands Line remains a precarious link, vulnerable to the slightest mechanical or meteorological hiccup.
Sometimes the cause is the weather. Sometimes the same train breaks down twice on the one journey. But let's be honest: If this level of service occurred consistently on the intercity line, Blue Mountains line or the Central Coast line, which was mentioned a few minutes ago, there would be outrage. There would be media coverage, urgent reviews and political pressure. But our commuters seem to be invisible. We pay the same fares. We contribute to the same system. Yet we are expected to tolerate delays, breakdowns and substandard conditions as if they are just part of normal regional life. Well, they should not be.
People are not asking for luxury; they are asking for reliability, for honesty in scheduling, for trains that do not break down mid-journey, for basic facilities that work and for a system that treats regional passengers with the same respect as anyone else. This is a call for accountability and action, investment in reliable rolling stock, proper maintenance, transparent communication when things go wrong and a genuine commitment to making the Southern Line a service people can depend on, not a gamble they brace themselves for every morning. Public transport is not just about trains and tracks, as we laughed about a few minutes ago. It is about people's lives. And right now too many lives on the Southern Line are being disrupted by a system that simply is not good enough.