Forget the retro pushbikes in Call the Midwife. Modern nurses now have their own train, thanks to the problem-solving genius of the Mercure team.

The NSW Nurses & Midwives Association normally hosts its annual conference at Royal Randwick Racecourse but this year had to relocate to Rosehill Gardens due to the renovation. Not to be swayed from their favoured accommodation – Mercure Sydney Central – the organisers worked with the events team to come up with a unique transport solution.

Mercure arranged old school food service on the train

For each day of the three days of the conference (7 – 9 August), a dedicated train was organised via Cityrail to leave from Central with stops at Redfern, Strathfield, Clyde and Lidcombe to gather up the 400 delegates attending the conference. The train bypassed Sydney’s notorious traffic black spots to deliver the nurses to Rosehill Gardens on time for a full day’s conferencing.

A train will then pick up the group in the evening to deliver them back to Sydney, with stops on the way to enable nurses to get home or go to their hospitals.

 “With the train, they will probably get to Rosehill even quicker than if they had been transported by bus to Randwick, and it means that they will be able to really build team spirit and camaraderie. The profession is spread so widely across the State and the country and this is their one major opportunity each year to build relationships and share their knowledge and experiences, so the ‘Nurses Express’ will have far greater benefits than just a means of transport,” Mercure General Manager, Greg Brady told SPICE.

The Mercure team served food and refreshments on the train and handed out Polaroid cameras to keep the guests entertained on their journey.