Telstra outage disrupts Australian train services, taxi payments

July 8 : An outage hit services of Australia's biggest telecommunications company Telstra on Wednesday, disrupting taxi payment systems and some train services, with the government saying the issue affected "a large number of mobile calls and connections."

Train services connecting Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, to regional towns were suspended due to communication issues, and the operator advised passengers to defer travel where possible.

Some passengers could not pay for their taxi rides while drivers lost multiple jobs with their payment platforms down, Australian media reported.

"We understand Telstra is working on resolving the issue, and arrangements are being made for affected rail passengers," Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said in a statement.

Telstra said it was investigating the issue affecting mobile calls and data, urging customers to "try again as it may work on a retry." The company did not confirm the cause or when services would be restored.

"We're on it and will share an update as soon as it's fixed," Telstra said.