It was the shock rail shutdown that impacted 1,000,000 Sydney commuters and price the state greater than $33 million.
Now the reality about what occurred within the hours earlier than the sudden choice to cancel town's prepare providers final Monday is being revealed, with containers of paperwork in response to an order for papers delivered to NSW Parliament at this time.
Greater than 400 pages of textual content messages, emails, briefings and studies illustrate the extent of a breakdown in communication and more and more strained relationships between the workplace of the NSW Transport Minister David Elliott and Transport for NSW, together with Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink.
On the coronary heart of the difficulty, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) claims to have briefed Mr Elliott's workplace and acquired affirmation he was comfy with the controversial choice to droop prepare providers on the evening earlier than the shutdown.
The snap shutdown prompted chaos throughout town, leaving many unable to get to work and disrupting plans on the day worldwide borders re-opened.
Union motion springing from ongoing disputes over pay and privatisation had been deliberate and was earlier than the Honest Work Fee two days beforehand.
In an e mail with a abstract of chronology earlier than the shutdown, Rob Sharp, Secretary of Transport for NSW, claims the Minister's workplace was briefed and saved knowledgeable.
"There was ongoing session with the COS (chief of workers) all through the day," he mentioned.
"I've included [a] textual content message confirming Minister Elliott's approval."
Textual content messages between Larger Sydney Deputy Secretary Meg Bourke-O'Neil and Mr Elliott's chief of workers had been despatched from 10.43pm, allegedly "when the choice was made that [rail] operations couldn't happen on Monday".
The pair additionally had a cellphone dialog.
After the decision, the chief of workers texted: "I simply spoke to the Minister. He has been briefed and is comfy with our place."
Nevertheless, 9News understands she claims she was not informed a couple of shutdown within the cellphone name - quite that the division meant to re-list their case to terminate union motion with the Honest Work Fee the next day and that there could be "disruption" on the community.
In a separate textual content message to Premier Dominic Perrottet's chief-of-staff and media director despatched at 11.43pm, Mr Elliott's chief-of-staff wrote: "There will likely be vital disruptions to the rail community tomorrow. Recommendation is that we will be unable to run many trains."
9News understands that she is insisting the primary she discovered of a call to droop providers fully was when she was requested to approve an emailed media launch saying it at 1.28am. Ms Bourke-O'Neil has been unable to present her account as she was ordered to take go away final week.
In the meantime, Mr Elliott claims to have solely discovered concerning the shutdown when he awoke to the information on Monday.
The animosity between Mr Elliott and Mr Sharp is obvious in different paperwork.
In a textual content message between Michael Coutts-Trotter, Secretary of the Division of Premier and Cupboard (DPC), and Mr Sharp, Mr Coutts-Trotter wrote: "Premier goes to be requested what occurred and what he is executed about it.
"He proposes to say that there is been a failure if [sic] course of and in consequence each TfNSW and the minister thought they'd executed the proper factor and had been clear concerning the agreed plan of action.
"The recommendation that the community needed to be shut down for security causes ought to have been put in writing and may have been endorsed by the minister in writing.
Trams, trains and automobiles: Commuter chaos caught on digicam
"DPC will work with TfNSW to make sure there are applicable communications between the company and MO [Minister's Office] on main points affecting customer support."
In response, Mr Sharp shot again: "I'm pleased for course of enhancements to be assessed and applied nevertheless this seems to position the blame on Transport.
"You're conscious of the 'course of' points I've raised with you. I feel a extra balanced place is that processes within the each [sic] Minister's Workplace and Transport will likely be reviewed.
When a draft media assertion claimed Mr Elliott was briefed concerning the impacts by the Sydney Trains CEO "by 8am on Monday morning", Mr Sharp responded: "Do we actually have to say when the Minister was briefed?"
Labor MLC Mark Buttigieg, who used the Standing Order 52 to get the papers launched at this time, mentioned Mr Elliott must be held accountable for the shutdown.
"What at this time's launched authorities paperwork show is that the federal government has a deliberate and premeditated technique to shut down the rail community on Monday 21 February," he mentioned.
"This was after that they had reached an settlement with rail employees and the union on the previous Saturday to function the community safely and reneged on that settlement."
Shadow Transport Minister Jo Haylen referred to as on Mr Elliott to resign.
"There isn't a room for interpretation right here," she mentioned.
"The general public service file ready for the Premier is crystal clear. Minister Elliott's workplace was briefed on the complete shutdown of the prepare community at 10:43 on Sunday evening. The Minister's workplace responded simply 56 minutes later clearly saying he had been briefed and that he accepted of Transport's place."
Additional paperwork from a separate order for papers are anticipated in a few weeks.