RailCorp said about 100,000 people were affected by the outage, which hit the Bankstown, Inner West, South, South Coast, Airport and East Hills and Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra lines. Reader Matt Jeffery said the trains were packed solid. "Waited more than an hour so far and was lucky to get on a train at East Hills but most people are still on the platforms as they can't get on" he wrote in an email. Trains were moving again by about 9am and RailCorp's chief operating office Andy Byford said this morning he hoped delays would clear by 2pm. The shutdown came two days after Sydney motorists were brought to a standstill by the triathlon world championships, a situation for which the RTA apologised yesterday. People who did make it to work today reported deserted offices, commuters reported jam-packed buses, long walks into the city and traffic delays in the CBD, while business owners said morning trade was down.

The Transport Management Centre this morning blamed a "power spike" at the Sydenham signalling station, which turned all signals to red - or stop - on the Bankstown, Inner West, South, South Coast, Airport and East Hills and Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra lines, about 7.45am. Reader Sarah McNiven took this shot of the queue for buses outside Sydenham Station. But Mr Byford said at an 11.45am media conference that a hardware failure was to blame. Mr Byford said a piece of equipment that transfers the signalling function from the main system to the back-up system failed. All systems no go ... the scene at Kogaragh station at 8.15am, taken by reader Pattarinee Vongthongsri.

When the transfer failed at 7.40am, that meant both the primary and back-up systems were down, he said. But Mr Byford could not say whether that meant the primary system had failed, or what role, if any, a power spike played. Drawing a blank ... the service screens don't hold out any hope of a train at Sydenham Station. Credit: Sarah McNiven Waited more than an hour so far and was lucky to get on a train at East Hills but most people are still on the platforms as they can't get on He offered RailCorp's apologies and said he hoped to have the train network back to normal by 2pm.

A spokesman later ruled out compensating passengers for delays or missed connections. Sign of the times ... at Sydenham Station. Sent in by Sarah McNiven. "CityRail does appreciate the impact that this type of disruption can have on our customer's work and personal commitments and we apologise," he said. "As has been the practice, we will not be providing compensation as a result of this morning’s delays." Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian blamed 10 years of underinvestment under the previous Labor government.

Commuters react "Office is super empty. Looks like the trainpocalypse has taken it's toll," user @artrlee said. One commuter waited for an hour at Hurstville station. "I wouldnt call it a delay," the commuter said. "Not a single train went by in either direction between 7.30 and 8.30 at Hurstville train station on the Illawarra line.

"They finally announced 'commuters should make their own way to work' at 8.30." Sydney was not alone - torrential rain caused traffic chaos in Melbourne this morning. Moving again Most lines were cleared to start moving again by about 9am but major flow-on delays were being felt in the early afternoon. The TMC asked train commuters to postpone their travel or to use buses.

Mr Wright said all State Transit buses would accept all train tickets this morning. But CityRail warned of "larger than normal crowds" on those services. One passenger on the Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra Line, Malina, said she experienced more than just a "delay". "No trains at all at Jannali," Malina said. "We were told that there wouldn't be any rail buses to replace the trains either as so many lines were affected there wouldn't be enough buses.

"And no idea how long the work would take to remedy the situation. If CityRail can't advise that trains are running again in the next couple of hours I guess it's going to be a flex day today." 'Relatively frustrating' Mr Wright, from the TMC, said the system failure was "relatively frustrating" for those people stuck on trains. "Unfortunately in a complex IT world that we live in these sort of failures happen from time to time and every considerable resource was applied to ensure that further delays were minimised for the travelling public," he said. "But unfortunately with a failure like this major delays and significan delays were experienced."

An hour late Meagan Barnes, another passenger on the Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line, arrived at Town Hall station at 9.25am - more than an hour late. Ms Barnes, who had been waiting for a train at Sutherland station since 7.30am, said hundreds of other commuters were waiting on the platform where paving work was also being carried out. But everyone was very calm as there was nothing they could do about the delays, she said. Another passenger, Vicky, said she had to call her manager to let him know she was running late.

"I was waiting at Hurstville at 8am and they told us to take a bus to Burwood just to get a train into the city," Vicky said. "I waited at the station for 45 minutes before they told us the problem was fixed." Trevor Payne said his train was stopped at Rockdale at 7.50am and it restarted at 9am. "So only a one-hour delay passed pleasantly with a coffee and book at Rockdale," Mr Payne said. "It was not the end of the world."

Rather walk Centennial Park resident Bradley Taylor said he walked into work in the CBD. "I just heard from others there were not trains running, loads of buses passed but were completely full so didn't stop," Mr Taylor said. "There would have been more than 100 people at my stop [on Oxford Street], some people were jumping in cabs together to share the cost but most walked." CBD terrible

One commuter, a regular bus user, said traffic in the CBD was terrible. "Traffic going from Wynyard to the QVB building in York Street is at a standstill. There are wall-to-wall buses, jammed," he said at 9.20am. "It's a parking lot." About 9am, buses along the stretch of York Street from Wynyard to Town Hall were stuck in a long line and were not moving, he said. "Many passengers chose to walk rather than sit on the bus, going nowhere," he said. A bus driver said it had taken him 15 minutes to get from the corner of Market and York streets to the information kiosk in York Street, a distance of about 100 metres.

Businesses in the CBD reported fewer customers during the morning peak period. Andrew Skettos, the owner of Cafe Cito, at Town Hall Square, said that he had "about half of what we normally get" in customers. "It's particularly quiet today," Mr Skettos said. Aaron, who works at Town Hall Square newsagency, said there were "probably a few people I haven't seen today". "It's been quiet, but it's always been quite quiet during the school holidays."

Rush at the Quay At Circular Quay commuters were rushing out of the train station gate to get to work, some more than an hour late. Kayla Phillips and Hayley Petrov, who travel to work at The Rocks by train from Campbelltown after driving from their homes in Camden, said the trip took almost three hours compared with the usual hour and a half. They were delayed between Holdsworthy and East Hills, then outside Revesby, where their train was turned into an all-station service. Ms Petrov said people on the train were calm but others trying to get on were frustrated.

''People were pushing to try to get on and getting cranky,'' Ms Petrov said, adding that the train was packed and there was no room to get anyone else on. Business manager Jim Johnston drove from Kiama to Sutherland, where he got on a train and was held up for an hour there. He said he was an hour late for a meeting. ''It is very frustrating but it's an electrical fault. It can happen. You've got to have patience and everyone on the train had a lot of patience but State Rail does need to be kicked in the backside.'' One commuter, who asked not be named, came from Carlton and said City Rail staff kept passengers, who were waiting on the platform, informed.

She said it gave her a chance to read a book and have a cup of coffee in the sunshine. ''I travel on trains all the time and there are delays sometimes but I think they handled it quite well and the girl discounted the ticket so I got an off-peak ticket.'' Rod Saunders, of Padstow, also said commuters were kept informed but there was confusion about where trains would go and what routes they would take. He said the destination board kept changing and it confused some people, who were getting on and off the trains before they had left the platform. ''I think what's important is they have to have a good plan B.''

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