Cityrail Timetable Revision

Mr COLLINS: My question is directed to the Minister for Transport. Why has he continually told the public that the new train timetable is three weeks away when the revised timetable has been sitting on his desk since 26 March? Why has he sat on the new timetable for almost a month at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of commuters left stranded daily on his train platforms? He ought to read his documents.

Mr LANGTON: I am delighted to advise honourable members that last night 93.3 per cent of on-time running was achieved.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Pittwater to order. I call the honourable member for Northcott to order.

Mr LANGTON: I will repeat that, it was 93.3 per cent.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Ermington to order. There is far too much interjection from both sides of the House.

Mr LANGTON: The Premier and I have acknowledged, and we repeated it on the weekend, that the people of Sydney have the right to get to work and to get home from work on time.

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Mr SPEAKER: Order! I place the honourable member for Georges River on two calls to order.

Mr LANGTON: We acknowledged that the timetable introduced on 3 November last year, first, to take account of the Cumberland link and, second, to accommodate the extra 6.8 million passenger journeys that we have attracted to railways in one year -

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Davidson to order.

Mr LANGTON: To make public transport attractive once more to the people that the coalition lost through seven years of cutbacks and mismanagement -

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Northcott to order for the second time.

Mr LANGTON: The achievement of this Government in getting 6.8 million people back to using CityRail trains in one year is nothing short of -

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Northcott to order for the third time.

Mr LANGTON: The Government embarked on a 12-month consultation program to ensure that it could produce a new timetable. As I said, the timetable had to be introduced on 3 November to take account of the opening of the Y link.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Coffs Harbour to order.

Mr LANGTON: We sought to accommodate the needs of the commuters of Sydney as they were identified through the extensive process of community consultation.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Ermington to order for the second time.

Mr LANGTON: The Government acknowledged publicly that the timetable was overambitious.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Vaucluse to order.

Mr LANGTON: Substantial operational changes to the timetable to allow for crossovers were made, and they were explained in great detail.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Lane Cove to order.

Mr LANGTON: When an on-time running figure in excess of 93 per cent can be achieved, as it was in the peak last evening -

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Wakehurst to order.

Mr LANGTON: - that shows very clearly that we are on the right track.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister will wait until the House comes to order before he continues the answer.

Mr LANGTON: It shows clearly that to be able to achieve on-time running figures in excess of 93 per cent, which was achieved last evening for example, we are heading in the right direction.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Lane Cove to order for the second time.

Mr LANGTON: As the Premier and I said at the weekend, the new Chief Executive of State Rail has one clear task, that is, to review the problems with the existing timetable and to come up with solutions as quickly as possible.