Telstra outage rail disruption is still affecting some Australian train services after a nationwide communications failure disrupted railway operations yesterday.

Passengers boarding a V/Line train at a station
Passengers boarding a V/Line train at a station. Photo: V/Line

Telstra outage rail disruption affects V/Line

V/Line suspended all services earlier today and urged passengers to “defer any non-essential V/Line travel where possible”.

The regional operator said it was monitoring the situation closely and would issue further updates when more information became available. At that stage, no time had been given for services to restart.

V/Line said in a statement:

“We understand the disruption this has caused and thank our passengers for their patience and understanding while work continues to safely restore services across the network,”

Only a very small number of replacement buses were running, and these were available “for essential travel only”.

In New South Wales, the Telstra outage also affected train operations. Buses were replacing trains on the Southern Highlands Line and the Hunter Line.

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ARTC checks communications as services return

The Australian Rail Track Corporation also paused its operations yesterday after the outage affected ARTC’s National Train Communications System.

In an update issued today, ARTC explained:

“The NTCS is a safety-critical system used across Australia’s interstate and regional rail network. It enables network control centres to communicate directly with train drivers through an in-cab radio system and operates over Telstra’s 4G network.”

“The nationwide Telstra outage disrupted the NTCS, preventing ARTC from making or receiving essential communications with train crews and frontline workers, posing a safety risk.”

ARTC said ⁠rail services are now gradually returning across affected networks. This follows confirmation that safety-critical communications can be reliably established, while Telstra addresses the underlying telecommunications issues and communications performance improves.

ARTC added:

“Given the size and complexity of Australia’s national rail network, recovery will take time and services will resume in a controlled and phased manner as communications are confirmed and all operational safety checks are completed.”

“ARTC will continue comprehensive testing and verification to confirm that network control centres can reliably communicate with each train before it is permitted to operate.”

What is known about services?

Official updates show that the rail recovery is being handled in stages. V/Line said trains were gradually returning across its network, but delays and cancellations could continue during the day. ARTC said freight and passenger services were resuming after the Telstra 4G network was restored and the National Train Communications System was functioning reliably.

ARTC also said the disruption was not caused by signalling or rail infrastructure, but by a telecommunications outage affecting safety-critical communications. The staged return covers key passenger services in New South Wales, V/Line services in Victoria and interstate passenger services.

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