Member for Wollongong Paul Scully has taken aim at a $24 million train ‘customer experience’ survey, the funds for which he says should have instead be used to scrap the 72 steps at Unanderra Station.

The $24 million contract, which ends on January 8 2019, is understood to be one of the largest and most expensive customer surveys ever undertaken by a government in Australia.

The task according to the NSW Government’s tender is to measure the “customer experience of services provided by Sydney Trains and NSW Trainlink… to provide a meaningful measurement framework to track change in customer experience”.

The Unanderra Station upgrade, including the installation of lifts has been placed on the backburner by the Berejikilian Government since March 2011 when it cancelled the upgrade and redirected the funding allocated by the former Labor Government to other projects.

NSW Labor pledged $25 million during the Wollongong by-election in November 2016 to fund the installation of the lifts at Unanderra Station in the first budget of an elected Labor Government.

Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:

“It’s a scandal that the Berejiklian Government is wasting so much taxpayer’s money on vanity exercises when it could be investing these funds to finally do the right thing and scrap the steps at Unanderra Station.

“By scrapping this disgraceful so-called ‘customer experience’ survey the Berejiklian Government could instead install the much-needed lifts at Unanderra Station.

“The Government should not need a multi-million survey to learn that the ‘customer experience’ on Sydney Trains leaves a lot to be desired.

“Commuters at Unanderra Station struggle up 72 steps every day to access their trains.

“I call on the Minister to scrap this multi-million survey and use the money instead to scrap the 72 steps and install the lifts at Unanderra Station.”