Sydney Trains is suffering almost two serious IT incidents a day following a bungled $425 million technology overhaul by the state’s main transport agency, placing the rail network at greater risk, confidential documents reveal.

And the rail operator’s management has been so concerned about Transport for NSW’s ability to deliver IT services that it commissioned consultants at a cost of $396,000 to carry out an independent review to find gaps and recommend fixes.

Internal briefing notes show Sydney Trains management has "ongoing concern" about the impact of the IT upgrade. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

In a sign of the strained relationship between the two agencies, one option is for Sydney Trains to “back out of the current arrangement” with Transport for NSW, which the independent review says will put the rail operator “in charge of their own destiny”.

The confidential reports and briefing notes, obtained by the Herald using freedom of information laws, reveal high-level concerns at Sydney Trains about the attempt to centralise IT services under the $425 million project dubbed “Making IT Work For You”.