Unanderra station is upgraded, now where are the trains?

We hope she doesn't miss that train.

To make it to Unanderra from Martin Place - the closest station to NSW Parliament on Macquarie Street - Ms Haylen would have to catch the 8.07am service and arrive six minutes late at 10.06am.

Unless the member for Summer Hill has preloaded her briefings for the day, she can enjoy some time blissfully disconnected from the press pack as the all stops service makes its way through the Royal National park - a black spot for phone services - and through Coledale and Scarborough - another black spot.

If she misses that train, it's an hour and a quarter wait for the next service from Martin Place at 9.21am which won't arrive at Unanderra until 11.02am.

That's assuming there are no cancellations, delays or other unexpected deviations from schedule.

Whoever is holding the ribbon may have sore arms at that point.

While this might be a one-off for Ms Haylen, for Illawarra commuters this is a daily battle.

At the opening of the renovated station there were smiles and applause for the lifts and accessibility upgrades that will mean for people like Rebecca Schmidt-Lachlan getting to the platform no longer involves a difficult and at times treacherous climb up the flights of stairs.

This was acknowledged by Wollongong MP Paul Scully, who has been involved in the stop-start campaign for the lifts for about 10 years.

"I'd like to acknowledge Bec Schmidt-Lachlan, Richard Kramer and the Unanderra access group who were here from day one," he said.

"It shows what could happen when a community unites to deliver a product that is for the community, everyone benefits from this."

So as the first hurdle has been overcome, getting to the platform, the next is to have reliable and frequent services.

Prior to the election, Ms Haylen promised a review of the timetable for the Illawarra and South Coast lines.

Eight months on, that review is yet to be released, with Ms Haylen saying it is still a work in progress.

"There are works ongoing about timetable changes, they'll come in progressively. It won't be one big timetable change across our network, they will be rolled out incrementally."

Ms Haylen said increased frequency depended upon the introduction of the Mariyung fleet of inter city trains, years late and not expected to run on the Illawarra and South Coast lines until 2025.

There are signs however that currently, the timetable is not working for Illawarra residents. Stations such as Bulli, Corrimal, Woonona and Fairy Meadow without express services are overused, and Austinmer that has one express service in the morning and afternoon is underutilised.

At other stops, such as Towradgi and Bellambi, patronage figures are low, even when surrounded by housing, with residents preferring to use other modes to get to work, school and the shops.

Stations such as Shelllharbour Junction, Oak Flats and Dapto serving the rapidly growing suburbs of West Dapto, Albion Park and Shellharbour have even fewer services, due to only one track south of Unanderra.

So while it is great to see lifts at Unanderra Station, and long overdue, that is only one piece of the transport puzzle, as Ms Haylen acknowledged.

"It will take some time, but those changes are coming because when we have reliable services with access, people use public transport."