AUSTRALIA: Passenger services began on Sydney Metro’s Southwest extension over a former suburban railway at 04.31 on October 30, ahead of opening celebrations planned for November 1.
The 13 km extension makes line M1 one of the longest fully automated metro lines in the world, running 66 km from Tallawong to Bankstown with 31 stations.
Sydney Metro said the conversion of the former T3 Bankstown Line suburban route between Sydenham and Bankstown will provide 50% more passenger capacity than the previous train service, and more direct connections destinations across Sydney.
Services will operate every 4 min during weekday peak periods, giving a capacity of 17 000 people/direction/h, and every 5 min during the day and every 10 min in the evenings and at weekends.
The journey time from Bankstown to Central is 28 min, 6 min faster than the former rail service.
Railway conversion
The extension forms the second section of the City & Southwest Metro project, the first phase having been the 16.5 km between Chatswood and Sydenham including 15.5 km of twin-bore tunnels under Sydney Harbour and through the city centre.
The suburban railway was closed in 2024 to allow the 130-year-old infrastructure and stations to be rebuilt to metro standards.
The 10 stations have been upgraded with lifts and other accessibility improvements, 360 platform screen doors, 790 CCTV cameras, 145 passenger information screens, more than 2 000 wayfinding signs, upgraded toilets and accessible parking. The upgrades have been tailored to reflect each station’s and local community identity, with heritage features retained.
The extension is expected to support urban development in the Bankstown area. Bankstown station has undergone a major redevelopment, with the construction of a public plaza where the metro and rail lines connect. A major bus interchange was also created.
The metro is operated by the Metro Trains Sydney joint venture of Hong Kong’s MTR Corp (60%) and Australian companies John Holland (20%) and UGL Rail (20%) under a contract running until 2034.
MTR Australia led operational readiness activities for the extension. ‘The transformation required deep technical expertise, close collaboration and an unwavering commitment to safety and operational readiness’, said David Tang, Managing Director, Property & International Business at MTR Corp.
Testing
The date for the start of services was only confirmed on October 22, as it was dependent on the completion of testing, trial running and regulatory approvals.
As part of the testing programme a major emergency exercise simulated a fire on a moving train that came to a controlled stop near Bankstown station. The exercise involving Fire & Rescue NSW, the police and Transport for NSW resulted in the safe evacuation of around 300 volunteers.
- The NSW government has announced that it will not proceed with November timetable changes proposed for the T4, T8 and South Coast rail lines. It said the timetable was designed to deliver more frequent services and additional capacity across southern Sydney and the South Coast, but passengers and politicians had raised concerns about the impact of the changes. Minister for Transport John Graham said ‘we want to deliver more frequent services and better connections for passengers, but after hearing feedback and listening to communities, we have made the decision that we have more to do to invest in reliability first.’
Source: rg
