Revellers had been worried about the threatened cancellation of Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks due to an ongoing wage battle between the Rail, Tram and Bus Union and the NSW government.
An 11th-hour Christmas Eve hearing fizzled out on Tuesday, with the Fair Work Commission agreeing the union had dropped enough action for there to be a negligible risk to New Year's celebrations.
Despite threatening action throughout the holiday period, the union dropped eight major work bans late on Monday.
A lawyer for Sydney Trains requested a half-hour private meeting with the parties at the hearing before the industrial umpire on Monday, saying there had been "encouraging discussions" overnight.
The commission returned with the matter, seemingly resolved without much intervention from commission deputy president Bryce Cross.
The union agreed to drop a solidarity action and one other by the Electrical Trades Union to ensure public safety over the holidays.
Union secretary Toby Warnes said the union was pleased with the result.
"There was never going to be any rail shutdown or major disruptions on New Year's Eve and now there certainly won't be," he said.
RTBU NSW Branch Secretary Toby Warnes (C) and the NSW government have come to an agreement. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
He asked the government to return to the negotiating table and "stop talking to their lawyers and start talking to their workers."
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said she had not agreed on a date to return to the table.
"Our focus has been on making sure that we can provide the transport services that people need this time of the year," she said after the hearing.
Speaking outside the commission, publican Craig Laundy said there had been fewer holiday cancellations than expected.
"The public were confident that common sense would somehow prevail," he said.
"I don't know who was sitting around the table in either union when they decided that this would be a good idea."
The union had cast its last-minute changes as necessary to help ward off actions to "effectively crush" its bargaining strategy.
Pub and bar operators, a casino, Luna Park and the NSW Labor government had planned to argue on Tuesday that train driver work bans planned for New Year's Eve would cause significant harm to third parties and potentially endanger life.
The commission hearing came after NSW Police warned of "grave concerns" for public safety if the one million people expected to line Sydney Harbour on the night struggled to leave after the final fireworks.
Sydney's New Year's Eve trains run all night. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
The fireworks are watched by another 400 million people globally and deliver an economic benefit of about $280 million to the city, according to organisers.
New Year's Eve also doubles as the busiest day on Australia's largest rail network with rare all-night running shuttling people across the state.
Some 3200 services run about every five minutes throughout the day, with crunch time coming in the hour after midnight as the masses try to leave together.
The union and government have been poles apart after seven months of pay negotiations.
Workers continue to demand four annual wage increases of eight per cent but Premier Chris Minns has said that's unaffordable and can't happen while he is denying nurses a similarly costly claim.
The Fair Work Commission cannot be asked to settle the substantive dispute - pay and conditions - until February.
