Weekday track upgrades planned for the Western and Blue Mountains Lines in May 2006 have been deferred.

It was proposed to close two of the four tracks between Blacktown and Parramatta for a period of three weeks commencing 8 May, in order to finalise concrete re-sleepering between Parramatta and Mt Victoria.

While suburban services would have been largely unaffected by the track upgrade, Blue Mountains Services would have terminated at Emu Plains and Penrith.

Over the past 48 hours, RailCorp has received substantial adverse reaction to the proposed upgrade, particularly from Blue Mountains customers concerned about the impact of the track reconstruction on their weekday travel to and from Sydney.

Because of that reaction we have elected to defer the proposed weekday closedown to enable rail engineers and operators to consider options to complete the $8.5 million track upgrade in a manner which is both more amenable to our customers and still ensures continuing safe and reliable operations.

The weekend track possessions scheduled for the Western and Blue Mountains Lines on 13-14 May, and 20-21 May will continue as planned. An outline of the work is available on the weekend trackwork calendar, with full details to be provided on the current trackwork page closer to the dates.

We are currently considering alternative options to perform the work which was to be undertaken during the weekday rail upgrade, and when finalised, will make information on the amended scope available.