Late opening for $11 billion metro line to Sydney’s new international airport

An $11 billion metro line to Sydney’s new international airport is set to open up to six months later than planned, missing the first plane of passengers and likely denying the Minns government the chance to cut the ribbon on the mega rail project before the next state election.

The state and federal governments have repeatedly said that the 23-kilometre rail line between St Marys and the new city of Bradfield via Western Sydney Airport would open at the same time as the airport in late 2026.

The new metro rail line to Western Sydney Airport is now not expected to open until April 2027.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Yet buried in Sydney Metro’s annual report is a disclosure that the new line to the international airport is “expected to open in April 2027”, which means it would not start carrying passengers until weeks after the next state election.

A highly confidential review of Sydney’s metro projects also reveals the airport line is “planned to open by mid-2027”. The airport line is jointly funded by the state and federal governments.

NSW’s interim transport minister John Graham, who recently replaced Jo Haylen after she resigned from cabinet over a taxpayer-funded driver scandal, confirmed that the delivery timeframe for the airport line had been affected.

“This project has faced ongoing industrial relations impacts and was in procurement during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which hampered global supply chain,” he said.

Graham said he was seeking a detailed briefing from Sydney Metro about the project’s delivery, contractual considerations and what could be done to ensure the fastest possible completion.

Workers in the new $11 billion metro rail line to Western Sydney Airport.Credit: Janie Barrett

Coalition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said the airport line’s late opening represented “another bungle and cover-up in the Transport department by the Minns government”.

“Sydney-city metro, Parramatta light rail and Metro West were all delayed, and you can’t get a train on time in Sydney. That is Labor’s transport legacy,” she said.

Last year the date for the opening of the city-section of the M1 metro line between Chatswood and Sydenham was delayed before it eventually carried its first passengers in late August. That delay was due to a combination of problems, including a lack of final approval from the rail safety regulator and a meltdown of a connecting stretch of line.

A Sydney Metro spokesperson said in a statement that the target opening of the new line “is aligned” to when the airport opens, “but these projects are inherently complex and over the life of their construction can be hit with various unforeseen factors”.

A confidential review of the metro projects commissioned by the Minns government in 2023 identified the inclusion of shortened spacings between cross passages in the airport line’s rail tunnels as a key risk for the project’s timing.

In a major U-turn two years ago, Sydney Metro agreed to build the emergency exits closer together in the tunnels after NSW’s fire and rescue agency warned of serious safety risks to emergency workers if they were half a kilometre apart.

The government-commissioned review also cited the need for a timely handover to a consortium which will complete and operate the railway. It warned of the “magnitude of design and delivery works needing to be completed in a short timeframe”.

The new airport line has largely flown under the radar in comparison to the $25 billion Metro West line under construction between Parramatta and the CBD.

However, the airport metro line was savaged by the country’s peak infrastructure adviser four years ago, with a warning that its cost would far outweigh the benefits.

While the metro rail project is set to open late, Western Sydney Airport chief executive Simon Hickey reiterated last week that the curfew-free airport was on track for “take off in late 2026”.

The airport metro line will initially have 12 trains an hour, which will be capable of carrying 7800 people in each direction. In comparison, Metro West will have capacity for 21,000 passengers per hour.

The airport trains will be about 30 centimetres wider than Sydney’s other metro trains to cater for flyers who are lugging bags.

Six stations are under construction along the 23-kilometre line, which is a combination of tunnels, surface and viaduct sections. All up, twin tunnels almost 10 kilometres long have been built.

Once it opens, a trip on the metro trains from the new airport to St Marys will take about 15 minutes, and a journey to Bradfield will be five minutes.

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