Updated August 25, 2026 — 8:12am,first published 6:39am
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A wiring fault on Sydney’s T1 North Shore Line is causing mass delays for city-bound commuters on Tuesday, with urgent repairs expected to last the morning peak.
The loss of tension in an overhead wire south of Chatswood Station has resulted in the cancellation of city bound services from Gordon to North Sydney. Limited bus services will replace trains from Gordon to Chatswood, where commuters can travel towards the city on the Metro. The problem was due to a failure in the cutaway mechanism on the wires, causing them to sag.
Commuters wait for buses at Chatswood train station after a wiring fault on Sydney’s T1 North Shore Line.KATE GERAGHTY
Repair crews have been on the scene since Monday night when the issue was discovered about 10pm.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland expects the repairs to continue the whole morning peak, and advised commuters to consider alternative train or Metro routes.
Crews work on repairing the counterweight which failed on the T1 line south of Chatswood.Transport for NSW
When asked just before 6am on Tuesday to estimate when the line would reopen, Longland said: “The best case would be mid-morning.”
“Once repairs are done we need to do testing before they re-energise those lines, so quite a process to work through to make sure everything’s safe,” Longland told 2GB.
The wiring issue is disrupting city-bound commuters on the North Shore Line, but has also had a knock-on effect on the T9 Northern Line which runs between Hornsby and Strathfield.
Travellers on impacted lines have been urged to allow for at least an extra 45 minutes to their journeys as services are reduced.
Uber fares in Sydney’s north have surged on Tuesday morning amid increased demand for the service.
Trains that normally start from or end at Lindfield and Gordon will now start or end at North Sydney. Repairs are expected to be complete by 11am.
The latest break in the T1 line comes less than two weeks after overhead wiring fell onto a train near Redfern, causing power outages across critical sections of the rail network and major disruptions during the evening peak. Transport for NSW is investigating the cause of the failure on the T1 line.
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Daniel Lo Surdo is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously helmed the national news live blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
Matt O’Sullivan is transport and infrastructure editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners