“It doesn't mean to say we have rail chaos. It means we're just managing people through the station,” he said. Mr Collins said there was “very little” room to expand the capacity of Town Hall in Sydney's CBD because foundations from large buildings sat either side of the underground station. “[But] there are opportunities for us to consider whether we can look at another exit or entrance or look at whether there are better choices for people to make that journey to Central Station or to Wynyard,” he said. Station staff have on occasions slowed passengers from accessing platforms on days when an incident on the rail network causes delays and crowds build.

Mr Collins said a major surge in passengers at Town Hall during peak periods – especially evenings – was partly due to a near doubling in people catching trains to and from fast-growing suburbs such as Mascot and the Green Square precinct in Sydney's inner south. Passengers passing through Town Hall station's gates reached 68 million in the 12 months to June, a 23 per cent rise on the 55 million passengers in the 2015-16 financial year. That equates to about 13 million extra passengers at Town Hall. An analysis of Opal ticketing data by Sydney University senior transport researcher Chinh Ho shows the number of passengers at Town Hall during the evening peak easily exceeds that at Central Station despite the latter having many more platforms. Commuters were temporarily prevented from entering platforms at Town Hall in January to avoid dangerous overcrowding. Credit:Louie Douvis “Town Hall is severely suffering from overcrowding during the PM peak. It is a big concern now,” he said.

Dr Ho said the station would struggle to cope with an expected increase in passengers over the coming years, and people needed to be encouraged to use other CBD stations such as Wynyard because the ability to increase capacity at Town Hall was extremely limited. In comparison, St James and Museum stations in the CBD were under-utilised. A new CBD station on Pitt Street for the $20 billion-plus metro line under construction will relieve pressure on Town Hall station but is not due to open to passengers until 2024. Strathfield resident Michelle Stanhope says crowding has worsened on trains due to population growth. Credit:Nick Moir Strathfield station is also experiencing significant growth in passengers during peak periods but Dr Ho said it was better able to handle high volumes due to its longer platforms and larger concourse.

Strathfield resident Michelle Stanhope said crowding on trains had worsened due to population growth. Loading “Unless you get on a train before 7.30am you have no chance of getting a seat, and you are in sardine territory,” she said. “You have to be particularly focused on getting to a train and squeezing in. You don't bring a book expecting to sit down and read.” Dr Ho said difficulties passengers had in getting on trains during peak periods at stations due to overcrowding reflected the maximum 20 trains per hour that could run on a line.