Two men accused of cutting cables and throwing the Sydney rail network into disarray on the night of the Matildas’ semi-final have denied their involvement in the debacle.
Anthony Joel Pike, 33, and Damian Zac Stewart, 47, were sleeping rough at Ashfield Station near a railway communications room.
They were arrested when police learnt signal box cables had been cut and hardware damaged.
The men have pleaded not guilty to a slew of offences, including aggravated break and enter, endangering the safety of a person on a railway, and destroying or damaging property.
During the four weeks Pike and Stewart had been living near the communications room it was never locked, a court was told on Thursday.
Sometimes the men would open the door to light up where they kept their possessions.
Their lawyer Matthew Lorkin said the area was a "well-known spot for homeless people" where others lived as well, and that CCTV footage did not cover the railway signalling room.
Recordings from nearby cameras showed his clients running when the alarms went off.
"This is not to disrespect the sergeant, but there being no evidence or submissions about what happened at the door (suggests he) picked up a narrative with a direct absence of proof," he told Burwood Local Court.
"They grabbed two homeless people captured on CCTV."
When Pike was initially interviewed by police he told them he jumped the fence and cut the signalling wires, because he was confused by their rapid-fire questions due to his mental health issues and he had been drinking on the anniversary of his mother's death, the court heard.
Stewart was also searched by police who found pliers, a box-cutter and a pair of gloves in his backpack.
But the 47-year-old insists he did not touch anything in the room and was in the vicinity to help find car keys with Pike.
Both men have lived with mental health issues, and had a history of minor drug offences and failed bail appearances.
Magistrate Elaine Truscott refused bail for both men.
The incident has raised questions about the security of critical rail infrastructure, with NSW Premier Chris Minns announcing an urgent review.
Trains were affected from about 10pm on Wednesday, the same time the Women's World Cup semi-final between Australia and England was wrapping up in front of a crowd of more than 75,000.
"Clearly the government has to look at security of the transport network, particularly in relation to critical infrastructure," Mr Minns told reporters on Thursday.
City-bound trains from the Olympic Park precinct, where the game was held, were diverted via the Bankstown line. There were also flow-on delays at other stations, Transport for NSW said.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said it was believed a relay room in the city's inner west was broken into and signal equipment damaged.
"A number of offenders have broken through security fencing, broken into a secure building and tampered with both our primary and our back-up system that controls six critical signals between Summer Hill and Ashfield," he said.
"When the power was cut, the signals have a safety system where every signal in that section will turn to red.
"What that means is during that period trains cannot move through that section of track."
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Tracey Chapman said there was nothing to suggest the vandalism was deliberately targeted at the Women's World Cup match.
"(It was) simply a senseless act," she said.
The outage caused major delays for train services on multiple Sydney lines, with frustrated fans posting images of crowded platforms across social media.
Transport for NSW said specialist engineers were immediately deployed to rectify the issue and services were restored within about 90 minutes.
By 5.30am on Thursday, train services were back to normal.
The matters of Pike and Stewart will return to court on October 11.
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