The Rail, Tram and Bus Union failed to reach a breakthrough in emergency talks with the NSW government and threatened to not provide the extra services needed for a marquee weekend of sport.
In Sydney there are NRL and AFL finals - including the Swans' sold-out game against Port Adelaide at the SCG - and the Bledisloe Cup rugby union fixture.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen says trains will be free on the weekend, a concession to the union hoped to allow for timetable changes so special event services can run.
Jo Haylen wants the rail union to allow timetable changes for special event services. (Jeremy Piper/AAP PHOTOS)
"One of the bans that the union has put in place is around altering the timetable, so that means no ability for Sydney Trains to run those special event services," Ms Haylen told ABC Radio on Friday.
"(The union and Sydney Trains) are meeting now and we're hopeful that given we have opened the gates … that we will be able to insert those special event services to get people out to Sydney Olympic Park."
The free rail services will run across the whole network, including the Metro, on Saturday and Sunday.
People heading to Moore Park for NRL and AFL final matches on Friday had already paid for public transport with their ticket and would travel for free too, Ms Haylen said.
Business Sydney says the rail disruptions could not come at a worse time. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
Business Sydney forecast the weekend's events were worth $21 million to the city's economy.
"Such major public transport inconvenience could not come at a more critical time," executive director Paul Nicolaou said.
"This boost for struggling businesses will be severely dampened if footy fans are impacted by this industrial action."
The union is also threatening to shut down the entire T3 train line - from Liverpool in Sydney's southwest to the city centre - if the government pushes ahead with plans to convert part of it to driverless metro standards.
The conversion requires closing the Sydenham-Bankstown section from September 30, but Ms Haylen has previously warned union work bans could delay the construction altogether at a cost to taxpayers of $100 million a month.
The rail union said the conversion was unsafe and represented a different beast to newly constructed metro lines elsewhere in Sydney.
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