Sydney trains delayed up to five hours as authorities warn rail commuters to leave early

More than 1,000 train services expected to be cancelled by end of Wednesday with warnings industrial action could cause further chaos on Thursday

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Sydneysiders have been warned that more than 1,000 train services are expected to be cancelled by the end of Wednesday while those that do run could suffer hours-long delays, as the state government vows to explore legal action to quash intolerable" industrial action from continuing into Thursday.

By Wednesday afternoon, about 400 services had been cancelled, with just 16% of services having run on time or at all. The T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra, T1 North Shore and Western and T8 Airport and South lines had been the worst affected by work bans from combined rail unions.