As of this week, Austinmer commuters have lost six express train stops at their local station.
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The stops were part of a three-month trial of 10 express services stopping at the station – five in the morning and five in the evening – which began in March this year.
After analysing the results, Transport for NSW decided to keep only four of the 10 stops.
“While there was an increase in patronage at Austinmer Station during the trial, customer numbers were not sufficient enough to warrant five additional express services in both the morning and afternoon peak periods,” a Transport for NSW spokeswoman said earlier this month.
Still, those other services remained until Monday, when they were removed as part of a larger timetable upgrade.
The trial services that are now permanent are the 6.10am, 6.50am and 7.31am from Austinmer and the 4.46pm from Central.
Other changes in the Sydney suburban network have been touted as addressing crowding on South Coast trains.
Extra suburban services have been added on the Illawarra line in the evening.
Also, some South Coast-bound services will be pick-up only at Hurstville – a busy station on the line.
This is a move which the government hopes will see some commuters catching suburban trains rather than intercity services.