Prosper in a dynamic world
Search

Disruptive weather event for transport in NSW

 

Major NSW train lines have reopened this week, after repair crews working tirelessly to clean up the damage following last week’s severe weather.  

Hundreds of millimetres fell in a day late last week causing localised flooding and landslips across areas of NSW rail networks. The damage across parts of the network led to train lines closing for days, disrupting commuters. 

Transport for NSW said that ’The wild weather over the weekend caused some significant flooding on the South Coast line’.  Their post below shows flooding and damage along the rail tracks in Coalcliff Yard, Port Kembla and Bomaderry Fletchers Lane Level crossing.  

This flooding was caused by persistent rain, falling across large area of eastern NSW between Thursday, April 4 and Saturday morning, April 7. 

During the 48 hours leading up to 9am on Saturday, April 7 the highest totals across the Sydney basin and Illawarra were; 

  • Darkes Forest- 269mm 
  • Centennial Park- 258.7mm 
  • Beaumont-255.4mm 
  • Abbotsford- 255.3mm 
  • Penrith – 251.8mm  
  • Albion Park-250.8mm 
  • Chatswood-241mm 

The heaviest falls during this period fell during the 24 hours leading up to 9am on Saturday, April 7, with Penrith and Richmond recording their wettest days in any month for 32 years. 

The map below shows that widespread falls of 100-150mm fell across central NSW coastline, with isolated pockets in the Illawarra and Blue Mountains receiving around 200-300mm during this period. 

Image: NSW rain during the 24 hours leading up to 9am on Saturday, April 6, Source:Bureau of Meteorology 

DTN APAC, a DTN company, can assist during severe weather events such as this with our expert insights and daily briefings, helping to reduce the disruptive delays across the network. 

We specialise in building customised weather monitoring and alerting solutions. These guide transport operators to plan and respond effectively. We tailor our data and analytics to your exact requirements. The following tools help the transport and rail sector daily. 

  • Total Lightning Network- Precise lightning detection which pinpoints where your personnel need to prepare and respond.  
  • Stormtracker- visualise adverse weather conditions impacting your network, with multiple weather and alert layers which animate over your infrastructure. 
  • Nowcasting, forecasting and severe weather alerting services to help coordinate your team, limiting downtime and scheduling maintenance in optimal weather windows. 

We provide customised weather intelligence to keep your transport business moving, for more information, please contact us at apac.sales@dtn.com. 

Latest news

Satisfy your weather obsession with these news headlines from around the nation, and the world.

Perth’s wettest day in 11 months as thunderstorms slam western WA businesses

Perth just registered its wettest day since July last year and more rain is in the way for Australia’s west coast in the coming days. The first five months of 2025 were unusually dry in Perth. The city only received 96 mm of its 170 mm average for the period from the start of January to […]

Powerful storms lash New Caledonia and South Pacific

Intense rainfall and thunderstorms impacted New Caledonia early this morning, with more to come for other South Pacific islands to the east. Flooding rainfall and intense thunderstorms in New Caledonia The satellite imagery below shows an area of convergence into a low pressure trough moving over New Caledonia early on Wednesday, June 4. This convergence […]

Big wintry week of rain, snow and frost for Australia’s energy market and hydropower

Rain, storms and winds will move over western WA, while two significant lows and cold fronts will send a deep chill, rain and snow driving energy demand across Tasmania and southeastern mainland Australia, in an unmistakeable sign that winter is now here. Southwest WA Perth appears set for its heaviest rain of 2025 to date […]

Unseasonable fire risk across Australia’s north and south this winter

Abnormally high fire risk is anticipated across parts of South Australia and Victoria this winter as the ongoing drought causes a seemingly endless 2025 fire season in southern Australia, with reduced risk across northern Australia with recent wet months. Increased Risk of Fire for southern Australia Australia’s official seasonal bushfire outlook for winter 2025 was […]