The NSW government will continue a legal push to permanently terminate work bans on the train network despite the withdrawal of some industrial action by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.
State officials are continuing action before the Fair Work Commission as the Electrical Trades Union - which is also involved in negotiations - has only paused its actions until the end of March.
Uncertainty over train stoppages is "intolerable", a NSW government spokesman says. (Steven Markham/AAP PHOTOS)
The actions withdrawn on Wednesday include speed limits on services and causing cascading cancellations across the train system, while other minor actions remain in place.
"This means that the notified hourly stoppages could still go ahead," a government spokesman said in a statement.
"This uncertainty is intolerable."
The commission previously ordered the combined rail unions to suspend industrial action following widespread delays across the NSW train network as it could not hear the application to terminate the measures due to economic harm within the legislated five-day window.
In an update to members, the union said it had achieved its goal in avoiding arbitration.
"We had to withdraw some of our industrial action in order to ensure that their case failed," it said.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen told reporters the government had put forward a "reasonable and fair" offer which was still available.
The union also detailed its own counter-offer to the government, which included wage increases back-paid to May.
The government has put forward a "reasonable and fair" offer, NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen says. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
It would have increased pay by nine per cent in the first year of the agreement and by 5.5 per cent in each of the following two years.
But the union said the offer had expired following the commission hearing, adding further negotiations were "the only way out of this mess".
Ms Haylen said the government would continue discussions.
"We want this dispute resolved as quickly as possible ... that will be done without industrial action on our network and passengers will be able to get where they need to go," she said.
Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou welcomed the reprieve from industrial action.
"It was already clear that no one was winning in this rolling dispute but commuters and business operators were obviously losing," he said.
Premier Chris Minns came back to work early on Thursday as the eight-month dispute with the rail union escalated, seeking an urgent hearing to have the industrial umpire resolve the issue due to the "incalculable" costs to commuters and businesses.
Union officials had originally sought a 32 per cent pay rise across four years, but the government only offered 15 per cent - including a federally mandated superannuation increase.
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