Commuters could face delays as many head back to work on Monday with close to 40 peak hour services cancelled as staffing issues continue to plague Sydney trains, the union warns.
Sydney Trains boss has assured commuters that staff were doing everything to keep trains moving on time, to avoid a repeat of last week's commuter chaos.
"Yes there are some delays ... and I wouldn't call them disruptions. I can never guarantee a perfect service and I can assure you my front-line staff, every train driver, every guard is working hard to get people into Sydney today," Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins told the Seven Network on Monday.
The opening of the new Hornsby junction in the city's north and the cancellation of several trains due to "staff availability" could cause disruptions on the rail network, a Sydney Trains spokesman told AAP on Sunday.
Sydney Trains said on its website it had cancelled services that are "typically the least busy, ones outside of peak hours or have another train scheduled soon after it."
Early on Monday morning, tweets warned commuters of a number of cancelled services, on the inner west, Bankstown and Cumberland lines.
Thirty-six services have reportedly been cancelled, with buses also on hand to supplement reduced services.
Travellers on the busy North Shore line were also warned of a new issue.
"#NorthShoreLine Allow extra travel time from the city due to urgent signal equipment repairs at Milsons Point," Sydney Trains tweeted after 5am.
The Sydney network went into meltdown last week with the NSW government blaming drivers calling in sick and storm damage but it was later revealed management had also approved "excess" annual leave.
Rail bosses met with the Rail, Train and Bus Union on Thursday to discuss the problems ahead of a "pressure day" expected on Monday.
"It's ridiculous that in a city like Sydney, we have a timetable that is so poorly designed that it may struggle to get commuters to and home from work on Monday because of these foreseen events," RTBU NSW secretary Alex Claassens told AAP in a statement on Sunday.
"We've been warning for months that this timetable won't be able to cope with even minor issues and that the smallest of incidents could send the network into chaos. And that's exactly what's happened last week, and likely to happen again on Monday."
Commuters could face further disruptions later in the week following a vote on Friday by rail workers to take industrial action as they continue to fight for an annual six per cent pay rise and improved conditions.
A strike is yet to be confirmed with union delegates and members meeting in coming days to discuss precisely what action they'll take.
