The countdown is officially on to the launch of the transformative Sydney Metro City, targeting a start date of Sunday 4 August 2024.
Subject to final testing and regulatory approvals, this means in just four weeks, passengers will experience fast, safe and reliable metro trains at new stations every four minutes in the peak.
This city section of what will be known as the M1 Northwest & Bankstown Line includes an additional 15.5-kilometres of city-shaping metro rail extending the North West line from Chatswood, below the harbour and through the Sydney CBD, to Sydenham.
A game-changing 2,645 new metro services will travel through the heart of the city each week, moving more than 37,000 people in the AM peak.
Once open, passengers will have fast metro travel times including from Victoria Cross in North Sydney, under the harbour to Barangaroo in 3 minutes, between Martin Place and Central in 4 minutes and from Sydenham to Chatswood in 22 minutes.
This builds on the Minns Labor Government's once-in-a-generation planning reforms to build more homes around existing transport infrastructure including this new metro line.
As a result, these new homes will be built near jobs and connected communities while helping address the housing crisis - a crisis that a recent NSW Productivity Commission report found has led to Sydney losing twice as many young people as it is gaining.
Information on services will be clearly signposted at stations and available at www.transportnsw.info prior to opening.
Sydney's new M1 line includes:
- 45 metro trains and 445 new services a day;
- That's a train every four minutes in the peak, seven minutes during week days, between morning and afternoon peak services (gradually increasing over the first few months to a train every five minutes) and every 10 minutes during off peak and on weekends;
- Six fully accessible new stations at Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Gadigal and Waterloo, along with new platforms at Central and Sydenham;
- Simple interchanges with buses at all stations, ferries at Barangaroo, light rail at Central and with train services at Martin Place, Central and Sydenham;
- Uninterrupted network mobile coverage;
- Safe journeys monitored by a state-of-the-art control centre, with approx. 100 CCTV cameras at every station and 38 cameras inside each train;
- Over 600 secure bike parking spaces at Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Waterloo and Sydenham, as part of 900 new bike parking spaces across all eight stations.
- Platform screen door technology to keep people and objects safely away from tracks.
Final confirmation of the opening date will be given in coming weeks when the operator successfully completes more than 100 remaining trial running exercises including:
- Joint exercises with emergency services to practice station and train evacuation scenarios;
- Testing alternative train timetables for when planned and unplanned service disruptions occour;
- Managing crowds during major events at each station;
- Continuing to safely deliver Metro services from the back-up control centre, when the Operations Control Centre is evacuated.
Later this year when Sydney Metro City is fully integrated and providing reliable services from Sydenham to the CBD, the T3 Bankstown Line will close for up to 12 months for the final M1 conversion works. These upgrades mean by 2025, south-west Sydney communities will have turn-up-and-go metro services every four minutes in the peak directly into Sydney CBD.
A temporary transport plan will be in place, including Southwest Link - dedicated, high-frequency bus services between Sydenham and Bankstown train stations.
Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said:
"Excitement is mounting for when commuters will be able to step on-board 445 new metro services deep below the city every day.
"Metro will be the fastest way to travel in and around Sydney CBD and north of the city, including across the harbour, when passenger services on the M1 Line start next month."
