TAXPAYERS are forking out hundreds of millions of dollars to pay out displaced railway workers under a deal struck with unions during a restructure four years ago.
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The payouts were offered to former State Rail and Rail Infrastructure Corporation employees in 2004 when RailCorp was created, but they are still being paid out, costing NSW $245 million by the end of the last financial year.
More than 2100 workers opted for the special-purpose payment package, which averages more than $100,000.
While an employee with 45 years' service would receive a 50-week payout through the normal NSW public service redundancy program, under the special-payment package that same employee would get about 180 weeks' pay.
A worker on $75,000 a year would receive almost $260,000 - about $187,000 more than other public-sector workers.
A review of the scheme by the NSW Auditor-General found an employee with 25 years' service will be entitled to "double the existing public sector voluntary redundancy entitlement".
The Rail Infrastructure Corporation was created in 2001 to maintain the rail network. But since 2004 it has gradually been disbanded, with its responsibilities divided between RailCorp and the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
Meanwhile, employees who have been trying to find new work or redeployment in the railways, in some instances for years, continue to be paid their normal salaries while in transitional positions, in training or searching for new jobs.
RailCorp pays $5037 a week to rent a modern office on level 21 of the PricewaterhouseCoopers building on Sussex Street, with sweeping views of Darling Harbour, for use as a "career transition centre" for the redundant workers. "Whilst they continue to seek redeployment they are either working in temporary placements, undertaking trial redeployments, completing their career transition program … or are conducting job-seeking research and activities at the career centre," a spokesman said.
At the end of June, there were still 61 employees registered with the centre. The Auditor-General's report found staff remained at the centre for an average of 178 days.
The career centre is expected to close by June.
