Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins says the "ball is now in the court" of the boss of the biggest rail union to withdraw a strike threat so that major disruptions to rail services can be avoided from Thursday.
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Despite offering what Mr Collins described as an "extremely generous offer" of a 3 per cent annual pay rise, both sides emerged at about 10.30pm on Monday night from more than 12 hours of negotiations without a deal.
Rail Tram and Bus Union state secretary Alex Claassens said there were still a number of "outstanding issues we have concerns about" such as rostering conditions.
While both sides would return to emergency talks on Tuesday, Mr Claassens said an indefinite ban on overtime work from this Thursday, followed by a 24-hour strike on Monday, was still planned to go ahead.
Asked whether the unions were holding Sydney commuters to ransom, he said "we're not taking the Mickey" and the union was trying to get a fair deal.
"We've always said we want a complete package," he said.
"Our members are angry, they're fed up and they're sick of getting the blame for all of the stuff that's been going on and we just want a fair deal."
The rail unions have been seeking an annual pay rise of 6 per cent a year, which is significantly higher than the state government's cap on public sector wages of 2.5 per cent a year.
Mr Collins said the rail operator had made three offers during the course of Monday, the final one of which was a 3 per cent a year pay rise with "some workplace changes".
"This is disappointing for us because the most important thing is for customers to have some certainty about this industrial action being suspended," he said.
"We moved several times in terms of negotiating strategy and therefore we're in a position now where we've made that offer of 3 per cent. We just have to see whether the RTBU, which is the critical union, actually can come back to us quickly and can tell us this industrial action is suspended and we can continue to talk."
Mr Collins said train services would have to be reduced if the industrial action took place, and he urged commuters to spread their travel over the peak periods on Thursday to reduce the pressure on the rail network.
"The ball is in Alex Claassens court now to come back to us and say he is prepared to take the [industrial] action off," he said.
"We haven't walked away from the deal. They tell me they haven't walked away from the deal. Most of the other issues ... are almost done. This is really now about what people will accept in terms of the pay deal."
