Justin Norrie and Anne Davies - November 23, 2006

A SMALL grassfire underneath power lines in Sydney’s west blacked out 30,000 homes, plunged Parliament House into darkness twice and triggered major interruptions to the energy grid yesterday as the city sweltered in 40 degree temperatures.

As the afternoon heat caused huge demand for electricity, power failures were felt in dozens of city offices. Computers had to be shut down and some office workers were stranded in lifts for more than an hour.

The events unravelled while a smoky haze from Blue Mountains bushfires smothered the city and pushed temperatures up to 40 degrees at Sydney Airport.

It also halted Parliament just an hour after the Premier, Morris Iemma, insisted his Government had the nation’s best record of reliable supply of electricity.

Figures from the National Electricity Market Management Company show energy demand across NSW spiked just after 3pm, soaring to almost 12,500 megawatts, as thousands of Sydneysiders switched on airconditioners. A spokesman for the company, Paul Price, said while “that figure is very, very high, it’s still a way off the record, which is about 13,160″.

The Kone elevators helpline was inundated with calls from anxious workers who had been trapped in lift shafts across the city, an operator said last night.

The disruptions to the city’s power supply, caused by a grassfire near Rookwood Cemetery, east of Lidcombe, that burnt through power lines, raised questions about the ability of the NSW energy grid to cope with a long hot summer. The weather bureau has forecast temperatures in their mid-30s for the weekend. An EnergyAustralia spokeswoman said the power “dips” were “purely a result of the fire and have nothing to do with how well the system copes with demand”.

Just after 5pm, as Parliament was debating a motion about the Federal Government’s nuclear energy paper, the building was plunged into darkness for about 15 minutes, prompting the Opposition to again criticise the Government’s level of investment in the electricity grid. Meanwhile, The Financial Review obtained a Treasury document outlining plans to take an extra $150 million in dividends over four years from the state-owned electricity companies: EnergyAustralia, Integral, Country Energy and TransGrid.

…

www.smh.com.au - 23 November 2006

February 5, 2004 – www.smh.com.au

Australia’s biggest city was thrown into commuter chaos today when a mysterious gas leak crippled the Sydney CBD’s rail network, forcing stations to be evacuated and dozens of services to be cancelled.

Stations on the city circle line were closed for nearly four hours as emergency workers tried to pinpoint the source of the leak, detected at Town Hall station about 1.45pm.

Sydney’s main transport hub at Central was also closed as growing crowds and a lack of trains threatened public safety.

The closures caused delays throughout Sydney’s rail network and left thousands of commuters stranded as peak hour approached.

The chaos began just hours after Transport Minister Michael Costa indicated that rail services could be cut back and travelling times lengthened to meet safety standards.

Further delays are expected as tough new health standards, introduced after the Waterfall derailment, leave the network short of train drivers.

“I’m sure the public will accept that rail safety is our number one priority,” Mr Costa said.

“There are incompatible goals (safety and reliability) in the current timetable and that is unacceptable from a safety performance management perspective.

“We are very mindful of the fact that a safer system will be a slower system.”

Late today, NSW Fire Brigade spokesman Superintendent Ian Krimmer said emergency services were unable to identify the gas or find its source.

But opposition leader John Brogden blamed today’s rail chaos on government neglect.

“It’s scandalous that a city like Sydney can effectively be shut down because of its decaying, neglected rail network,” he said.

“The system seems to be breaking down one way or another each day and today (Mr Costa is) telling us you can’t have both a safe and reliable rail system.

“Clearly, under Bob Carr, Michael Costa and Carl Scully you can’t.”

Rail services resumed at 5.30pm but lengthy delays continued across the network as the backlog of commuters slowly cleared.

Many opted to avoid the gridlocked roads in and around the CBD by walking home.

A Bridge Climb staff member, who had a bird’s eye view of the solid stream of pedestrian traffic below on the Harbour Bridge, said: “It looks like Pitt Street Mall”.