THE ticket office at Albury railway station will indefinitely open for just two hours on weekdays due to staffing problems.
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NSW Trainlink plans to extend trading hours, but it won’t say when existing 10am-11am and 2pm-3pm limits will change or for how long the office would open.
The situation has been labelled as “nothing short of a debacle” by the Border Rail Action Group in a letter to NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
Member for Albury Greg Aplin said he was “extremely disappointed” with the situation and had aired his concerns with Trainlink managers.
In a statement a Trainlink spokesman cited a shortage in staff and the need to induct new employees for the situation.
“The ticket-selling hours at Albury station have been reduced temporarily while we recruit and train new staff and we are working to improve the situation as soon as possible,” he said.
“NSW TrainLink apologises for any delays customers may have experienced at Albury station when attempting to purchase tickets and encourages customers to use the more convenient (web and phone) options available to them.”
BRAG chief Bill Traill told Mr Constance in his letter “two hours per day for ticketing is totally unacceptable”.
“These new arrangements feed the anti-investment voices for public transport, and, if persisted with, are bound to result in loss of market for the service operators,” Mr Traill wrote.
“It appears there has been a degree of negligence in….planning and implementing these new staffing and ticketing arrangements.”
Mr Aplin said Trainlink had failed to meet promises made earlier in the year when the shake-up in staffing at the station was flagged.
“I’m very angry, we had assurances that the staffing would be in place when the roster changes were made in November,” he said.
Mr Aplin met Trainlink’s customer relations boss and two senior staff last week.
“They told us there was a training scheme in place at the moment and they undertook that from today (Monday) they would make roster changes and....would also contract in cleaners for the barracks because some of the staff there are also completing jobs….when one expects them to be in the ticketing office,” he said.
Mr Aplin said while more passengers were booking trips online it was important Trainlink still had an adequately staffed ticket office
“It’s up to Trainlink to ensure that is the case and we’ll be on their back to make sure they deliver,” he said.
