"Trains stop in NSW, ACT, Canberra mail disrupted," was the headline on page one of The Canberra Times on this day in 1983.
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No trains were running in the ACT or NSW and most Canberra mail services were disrupted by work bans imposed by mail sorters the previous evening.
All trains in NSW were stopped at midnight in a protest by the Australian Federation Union of Locomotive Enginemen (AFULE) against the State Rail Authority's removal of observers from XPT trains.
The NSW secretary of the AFULE, Bernie Willingale, said after talks broke down in Sydney that drivers would meet to discuss the length of the strike.
The dispute was over a decision by the NSW State Rail Authority to abolish observers on XPT trains.
The Canberra area manager of the NSW State Rail Authority, Cyril Bartram, said no goods or passenger trains would run into or out of Canberra.
People from Melbourne wanting to travel to Canberra were unable to do so because no trains would run through the Yass Junction.