Commuter action group Illawarra Rail Fail organised the meeting as the start of a campaign to keep the issue of improved rail services on the agenda in the lead-up to the 2019 election.

Organiser Bronwyn Batten said more than 100 people attended the meeting, most of whom were commuters themselves or had someone in their family who caught the train.

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“I was really happy with it,” Ms Batten said of the meeting.

“We were all very supportive of coming together as a community group to try and achieve change.”

She said the meeting passed several resolutions, listing a range of short, medium and long-term goals.

Short-term goals included improved mobile phone reception and extra carriages added to four-carriage services.

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Long-term options included the much-talked about Thirroul tunnel.

Mr Park, Greens MP Dr Mehreen Faruqi and University of Wollongong transport expert Philip Laird addressed the meeting.

Afterwards, Mr Park pledged his preference for rail over road should Labor win the 2019 election.

“Let me make this very clear,” Mr Park said.

“Labor is going to prioritise funding improvements to the South Coast line before we ever consider a private toll road. 

“We are carefully considering a range of options that have been put forward to achieve these improvements.”

Mr Park said he was unimpressed that people were “stuffed in like sardines”, especially on the four-car sets leaving Central just before the evening peak.

“Too many times I have been on trains where the elderly, frail and even pregnant women are either standing or if they are lucky enough, sitting on the stairwell,” Mr Park said.

“That is simply not good enough.”