FED up Hawkesbury commuters gathered at Richmond Oval on Sunday for a protest about the state of Sydney Trains, demanding better services from the state government.
About 50 people gathered at the event on Sunday afternoon, where they shared their horror train stories to a reception and frustrated audience.
The protesters wanted a review of the current timetable, and the duplication of the Richmond Line.
Stuart Gale, one of the organisers, said he was sick of trains being cancelled without warning along the T1 Western Line, among a number of other issues.
“People have given up on the trains. People are driving to North Sydney, East Sydney,” he said.
“One lady has to do an overtime shift every second week to pay her tolls and fuel bill. She tried driving to Blacktown and further down and it didn't work because they kept cancelling trains.”
Gale said he personally had stopped catching the train at Richmond, because he thought it was too unreliable.
“I live in Richmond, a kilometer from the station, yet I choose to drive 44-kilometres to Penrith and back every day to get to work, rather than be stuck with a three hour journey when there are problems,” he said.
Gale said he planned to keep the pressure up to see a duplication of the T1 Western Line, which had been promised many times by various governments but never delivered on.
“Once the line is duplicated, that is going to do away with a lot of the issues with cancellations it will give us an opportunity for a better timetable,” he said.
“It will prevent an awful lot of people travelling to Penrith and Blacktown to catch trains because the Richmond line is too unreliable.”
Gale also criticised Member for Hawkesbury Dominic Perrottet. He said numerous attempts to invite him to the gathering failed.
However, a spokesperson for Mr Perrottet said they had been in constant contact with Mr Gale and other organisers and advised them that Mr Perrottet would not be able to attend.
The spokesperson added that Mr Gale and Nathan Cox, another who is unhappy with the trains, met with Mr Perrottet in December about the problems.