Australia rail services resuming after Telstra outage
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A Telstra network outage on July 8 disrupted passenger rail networks and other services in Australia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- A Telstra network outage disrupted mobile, data services, and rail operations across Australia, with services beginning to resume on July 9 after the issue was addressed.
- Telstra identified a secondary software problem affecting emergency calls and implemented a solution, conducting 639 welfare checks after some Triple Zero calls failed.
- The outage raised public concern over telecom reliability, prompting calls for investigations to prevent future failures amid recent similar incidents with Optus and Vodafone Australia.
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Disrupted rail services in Australia were starting to resume on July 9, after a Telstra Group network outage knocked out mobile and data services across the country a day earlier and halted trains in some areas.
Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), which operates the freight and passenger rail network across five states, said services were expected to return to normal from later in the day, provided that operators were ready to resume.
ARTC, which uses Telstra’s 4G network to communicate with train drivers, paused passenger services after the outage.
“Priority is being given to the staged return of key passenger services, including metropolitan and regional services in New South Wales, V/Line services in Victoria and interstate passenger services,” ARTC said in a statement.
Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells told Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the morning of July 9 that Telstra was working through a “secondary issue” overnight on July 8, in which some calls were going straight to message and some Triple Zero calls were not going through.
The secondary problem was uncovered after an initial software issue – which affected the nodes that keep time across its system – was resolved, Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland told a briefing on July 9. A solution has since been implemented, he said.
Telstra, which provides about 25 million retail mobile services, conducted 639 welfare checks after failed Triple Zero calls, he added.
“Mobile networks are complex and we will continue to work through further changes to ensure we have the most robust solution, but customers can feel confident in calling Triple Zero,” Ackland said.
Chief executive Vicki Brady had cut short a family vacation abroad and will be back at work on July 10, Ackland said.
Telstra shares were up 1 per cent at 1.17pm in Sydney (11.17am Singapore time) trading on July 9, after falling 3 per cent the day before.
Telecommunications industry ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said the outage had a significant impact on people’s daily lives, including lost income and disruptions to travel.
“What we really want to see is that we get to the bottom of what’s actually been causing this issue so we can prevent it happening again,” she said in an interview on Nine’s Today programme.
“This is not how Australians want to be living their lives, anxious that they’re not going to be able to rely on telco as an essential service.”
The disruption is the latest failure that has raised questions about the reliance of Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure.
In September 2025, Singtel-owned Optus faced outcry over an outage for users accessing emergency services, which led to fatalities. That incident occurred less than two years after a similar incident impacted millions of Optus customers, including some emergency callers.
In June 2026, Vodafone Australia also said some mobile phone customers experienced connectivity issues. BLOOMBERG
