It’s an understatement to say trains in Sydney are over capacity.

Commuters are fed up with crowded carriages and uncomfortable journeys, and in the last financial year Sydney riders racked up a record 400 million journeys.

Some services were even crammed at 170% capacity.

“How is that even possible?” asks Deborah Knight.

As the state government works to play catch up, we’ve been given our first glimpse at what the new intercity trains for passengers travelling to Newcastle, the Blue Mountains and the south coast will look like.

New toilets, comfortable chairs and power points installed in the seats is just the beginning.

See images of the new fleet below 

But will they provide the improved service commuters are desperately crying out for?

Transport Minister Andrew Constance says they’re “definitely an improvement”.

The trains will have fixed seats, which has disgruntled many passengers who prefer the flip chairs, but the Minister says they needed to make a trade-off.

He tells Deborah “the key challenge here is obviously being able to provide that other amenity, so it’s got to be weighed up. You can’t have a USB point and charge points and tray tables with keeping the seats fixed.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Images: Transport for NSW