Sydney train network hit by major delays after overhead wires come down

Hundreds of people have been assisted off trains after overhead wires came down onto one of them on Friday evening.

There are major ongoing delays across Sydney's rail network.

The South Coast Line service was travelling between Redfern and Erskineville, in Sydney's inner west, when the wires came down about 4:30pm.

Two other nearby trains came to a grinding halt.

Transport authorities isolated power to safely remove passengers. Just before 7pm some commuters were still being assisted off, but everyone had been cleared by 8pm.

All three trains remain on the tracks.

Sydney Trains' head of rail operations, Jas Tumber, said the cause was unknown.

"We obviously don't know the cause of that at the moment, but we are working to understand and get response teams out to that particular train.

"That has resulted in us having to remove power between Central and Newtown on two of the six tracks that go in and out of the city."

Those tracks — one in each direction — are still unavailable, forcing trains onto the remaining lines.

Extra buses are being deployed throughout the network, including to Central, Lidcombe, Sutherland and Campbelltown.

'Train just went basically dead'

Train passenger Sean Murphy said he left Redfern for Sutherland on the Kiama train about 4:30pm and that "the engine just stopped" five minutes later.

"The train just went basically dead," he said.

Mr Murphy said staff announced that a train ahead of them "had brought down powerlines" and to await further instructions.

"Then they asked all the passengers to move to the centre of the train, so passengers came from both ends of the train to the carriage that I was in," he said.

"Then they got us to exit the train through the driver's compartment in the compartments in the middle of the train.

Mr Murphy said he was on the train for more than an hour.

"People were obviously delayed. They were calling people to let them know that they'd be late," he said.

"People were late for work, late getting home, but generally, people were reasonably calm and cool.

"The air conditioning went off, so it was starting to get a little bit warm, but I wouldn't want to be in there for much longer."

Significant delays

It has significantly impacted the T2, T3, T8, T1, North Shore and the Western Line, as well as the T9 services.

"We also have an impact to our intercity customers who are leaving from Sydney terminal, so because of this power outage, we're not able to operate any intercity services that are going west or north," Mr Tumber said.

He recommended passengers catch a suburban train to Blacktown or Parramatta.

"Those trains that typically would have come in from the west and the north or into the city, they'll be turning around at Parramatta, Strathfield or Hornsby."

Passengers are advised to allow plenty of extra travel time and consider alternative travel options.