He says the government is committed to signing a legal deed to modify the long-distance fleet once a final business agreement is reached.
In return, the government wants all industrial action to cease immediately and members of the railway union to help test the modified long-distance fleet, among other measures.
“Once these preconditions are agreed, we will ask the Secretary of the Department of Transportation to formalize a deed,” the letter says.
“We want to make sure that the NSW government is fully committed to this proposal and intends to implement it as part of the current rail offer.”
Ward and Maclaren-Jones are the last ministers to enter the long saga involving former Transport Minister Andrew Constance, his immediate replacement Rob Stokes, Treasurer Matt Kean, Employee Relations Minister Damien Tudehope, Minister of Transport David Elliot and the Prime Minister.
Both sides made concessions ahead of the Fair Work Commission hearings, and on Thursday the union agreed to lighten actions affecting the construction of the Metro rail project. The NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union also agreed to lift bans on cleaning trains on Wednesdays and Fridays.
In her closing presentation on Friday, government lawyer representing Kylie Nomchong, SC, said the union concessions were “window dressing” and did not go to the heart of the “havoc” that industrial action has caused on the railways. .
Nomchong also warned that if the government did not succeed in the commission, a new industrial action by the combined railway unions was “threatening, imminent or likely.”
He argued that the union concessions were an “eleven-hour attempt” that did not go far enough.
The government has argued that cleaning bans, along with the refusal to operate foreign-built trains, have severely disrupted rail services.
He Herald revealed last month that the cost of the city and southwest subway line had faded due to stalled industrial negotiations.
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