Sydney's most dangerous train stations
EXCLUSIVE: A top government transport advisor has broken ranks, describing Sydney's busiest train stations as a tragedy waiting to happen.
He's warning overcrowding could lead to dire consequences if there's a fire or other major emergency.
Members of the state government's own commuter advisory board say Town Hall's narrow platforms, overloaded with 70,000 passengers a day, fall way short of modern safety standards
Jim Donovan from the Commuter and Community Advisory Group says Town Hall would be very dangerous in a crowded situation.
"If you had a decent fire down there you'd have a lot of very scared people fighting to escape," Donovan says.
The New South Wales Transport Minister agreed two years ago, when she was in opposition.
"It's not good enough for the State Government, or anybody, for that matter, to wait for a tragedy before anything is done," Gladys Berejiklian said in 2010.
Jim Donovan says that if you tried to build a station like Town Hall today wouldn’t be allowed.
CityRail says it goes to extreme lengths to manage all sorts of issues that arise at Town Hall.
The problem of overcrowded city platforms is not just confined to safety; the need to take precautions is slowing the whole system down.
