{"id":787917,"date":"2026-07-08T22:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787917\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T22:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:53:10","slug":"why-a-telstra-outage-has-stopped-some-trains-in-regional-new-south-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787917\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a Telstra outage has stopped some trains in regional New South Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Telstra outage that left millions of mobile phone users cursing and retailers relying on cash rather than payment systems has also stranded some train passengers.<\/p>\n

Those on board services in the Sydney metropolitan area might not have noticed any change to timetables, but commuters in regional NSW have been left wondering how a telco’s troubles could literally stop a train.<\/p>\n

RMIT University associate professor Mark Gregory, who researches telecommunication networks, systems and services, said cellular networks are used to link trains with control centres to ensure they run safely.<\/p>\n

He said when the 4G network went down, safe operations were compromised and reliant train services had to be suspended.<\/p>\n

“So those systems in the data centre will start saying, ‘hey, I’m expecting a message or didn’t get a message or messages are not getting through’,” Dr Gregory said.<\/p>\n

“So they will reach a critical point where they will say, hey, look, things are not right, it’s not safe.”<\/p>\n

Ahead of the 3G closure in late 2024, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) upgraded technology on its National Train Communications System with 4G capability.<\/p>\n

Yesterday’s outage is, as of Thursday morning, still impacting communications across its 9,600-kilometre network, which includes passenger services on the Southern Highlands Line and the Hunter Line.<\/p>\n

Sydney Metropolitan services, which do not rely on ARTC’s 4G network, were not affected.<\/p>\n

ARTC issued a statement focused on safety during the outage.<\/p>\n

“As a safety precaution, ARTC has implemented established emergency protocols and safely brought rail services on the network to a stand while the telecommunications outage is resolved,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Minister demands explanation<\/p>\n

Telstra’s chief financial officer Michael Ackland said Wednesday’s outage was caused by malfunctioning “nodes” that manage time synchronisation within some of the network data centres.<\/p>\n

But telecommunications consultant Paul Budde, who has spent decades living in the Hunter region, said there were shortfalls in the way networks were configured in Australia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Paul Budde says there are shortfalls in the way networks are configured in Australia. (Supplied: Paul Budde)<\/p>\n

He said a single fault or synchronisation issue could cause widespread impacts due to the way networks operate in Australia<\/p>\n

“We need to address the resilience of the networks, not just the reliability of the network,” Mr Budde said.<\/p>\n

“Our network is so concentrated, perhaps we need to make sure that we can isolate the problems and it only stays in a particular region and not let it cascade through the whole network.”Telstra and trust\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal Minister for Communications Anika Wells said Telstra had a job ahead of it to regain trust.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Anika Wells says Telstra has work to do to regain the trust of customers. (ABC News: Joel Wilson)<\/p>\n

“I’d say that telcos are the least trusted industry in our country as we stand today, and days like [this] demonstrate exactly why Australians feel that way,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It will be up to Telstra to make things right with their customers.”<\/p>\n

Telstra has apologised and said there was no evidence of a cyber attack or malicious activity and that it would continue investigating all possible causes.<\/p>\n

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