Australian commuters' daily stress maybe prolonged as production of the commuter trains set to be launched in a month is still hounded by setbacks left and right.

Sydney's new trains also known as the Waratah trains are facing production problems especially with China-based subcontractors.

The consortia of companies led by Downer EDI said it would now be difficult to meet the deadline which is only a month away and they have yet to settle the issues regarding the inner components of the train.

At the release of its half-year results, officers of the Downer EDI said although the subcontracting firm Changchun Railway Vehicles did a good job in creating the outer parts of the train carriages. However, the interiors such as seats and vestibules need major changes and improvement.

Ross Spicer, the executive in-charge of production said most of the carriages that have arrived in Australia have damaged interiors.

The said 15 of the 78 trains will be reassembled in the Cardiff factory in the Hunter and may require more hours of labour than first anticipated.

Mr. Spicer added that the company would now be redesigning the interiors in a way that can easily be assembled in China by their subcontractor.

In a related report by the Sydney Morning Herald, Downer had written off $440 million on the contract because of the software to be used in the running of the trains.

"But if RailCorp rejects the software, which it is entitled to under the contract, that would delay the arrival of the first train for another seven weeks, so it would not be on the tracks until as late as July," the Herald report indicated.

A spokesman for RailCorp said: ''RailCorp wants the new Waratah trains operating in service as soon as possible, but we will not compromise on passenger safety, performance or reliability."