Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance issued a statement Thursday evening, confirming the overcrowded 3:24pm and 3:54pm service from Central will be converted from four carriages to eight.

These bigger trains will begin operating in January. 

“We’ve listened to the community,” Mr Constance said. “In recent years, travel patterns have changed, especially for people who live on the South Coast but work or study in the city.” 

“There is a growing preference among people in flexible work environments to start and finish earlier in order to be home in time to spend quality family and community time.

“The upshot is that journeys that were once comfortably serviced by smaller four-car sets have become overcrowded. We have been working to overcome the significant logistical hurdles involved in boosting capacity on these services.”

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward welcomed the decision. 

“The long-term solution is far more complex than simply adding more cars to an existing service, but this is a great start,” he said. 

“If not done correctly, increasing capacity on two services could potentially impact other services up and down the line, and across the network. We need to do this right to get the best results for passengers.”

Planners from Transport for NSW and Sydney Trains are “working hard to increase this capacity as soon as possible”, according to the minister’s statement.

Much of that planning work is completed, and the higher-capacity trains are expected to begin running in early January. 

Commuters began petitioning on the issue in June last year. They later banded together on a Facebook page, Illawarra Rail Fail, dedicated to this and other issues affecting area commuters. 

The group used a musical number, released online earlier this month, to call for more trains and faster travel times. 

In response to questions raised at a recent budget estimates hearing, Mr Constance said the government was investigating improvements on the South Coast line as part of Stage 2 of the More Trains More Services program. 

“This program will not only investigate providing additional services for South Coast customers, but also better connections and improved local services.”

Part of the investigations include the already-announced $880 million that will be spent on improving signalling on the T4 Illawarra line to allow trains travel closer together.

“Future stages of the program will look to deliver a 30 per cent increase in peak services on the T4 Illawarra line which is an increase of five trains an hour, with more services for South Coast customers,” Mr Constance said.

A Transport for NSW spokesman declined to offer specifics on what other measures for the South Coast line were being considered or offer a concrete time frame for when extra services would be seen.