Premier’s whistle stop Bulli visit

" Morris Iemma invites passengers aboard the new Outer Suburban Cars or OSCARS at Bulli station last week.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma welcomed commuters aboard the first of the state's new rail carriages at Bulli station last Friday.

Four of the long-awaited Outer Suburban Cars known as OSCARS passed through the northern suburbs to Wollongong in a final test run.

The first of the carriages will begin passenger services today (December 21), running every Thursday and Friday on the South Coast line between Central and Wollongong.

A total of 122 OSCAR carriages are expected to be rolled out by mid 2008 in a $439 million investment.

"These new trains deliver on our promise of improved services for intercity rail commuters from the Illawarra, Central Coast and lower Blue Mountains," Mr Iemma said.

Transport Minister John Watkins and RailCorp chief executive Vince Graham joined the premier on his journey to Wollongong.

Climbing aboard at Bulli station was Heathcote MP Paul McLeay, who praised the OSCARS as the "new direction in rail".

"They will provide passengers with a safer and more comfortable ride," Mr McLeay said.

The rolling stock include new safety features such as two sets of security cameras in each carriage, as well as more comfortable seating with graffiti resistant covering and accessible toilets for people with disabilities.

Mr McLeay said the first set of four carriages would initially operate outside of peak times for training purposes.

Additional carriages will be progressively introduced in the New Year as further driver and guard training is completed.

The arrival of the OSCARS will allow Tangara trains that currently run on outer-metropolitan areas to be returned to the busiest metro lines.

Despite the success of last week's final test, not everything has run smoothly during the OSCARS development.

A range of technical problems prevented the carriages from coming into service late last year.

Mr Iemma said the carriages had since undergone more than 30,000 kilometres or 1,100 hours of testing this year.

"There's more work to be done, but outer-suburban rail commuters can look forward to higher standards of reliability and comfort as the OSCARS are progressively rolled out," he said.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Gladys Berejiklian said the introduction of the OSCARS was too little, too late.

"These carriages are nearly two years late, $37 million over budget and have only seen service at Labor's media conferences," Ms Berejiklian said.

"Long-suffering commuters are left waiting."

By Paul Fahy