‘Extremely disappointing’: Metro closed on massive weekend for Sydney
Sydneysiders will be left in the lurch this weekend as Metro is shut down despite a packed calendar of events across the city, including The Everest, Sculpture by the Sea and Crows Nest Fest.
NSW
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Sydneysiders using public transport to attend The Everest, Sculpture by the Sea and Crows Nest Fest will be among that those left high and dry this weekend by the temporary closure of the Metro, just two months after it was opened.
Transport for NSW announced on Monday that services between Tallawong and Sydenham “would not run” and would be replaced by buses.
“Use Sydney Trains services between Chatswood, the City and Sydenham.”
Passengers took to X to complain about the inconvenience, one writing: “On Everest weekend …” and another stating “You folks are a joke! The metro is packed on a weekend!”
Insane ...every bloody weekend almost
— Simon Reid (@sreid744) October 13, 2024
Ummm.. how will I get to crows nest fest??
— Here’s Looking at You… (@HLAYsyd) October 14, 2024
You shut down the whole line. It just opened for goodness sake
— Paul Sydney (@PGBSYD) October 14, 2024
A full schedule of events across the city are set to be impacted by the closure, including the The Everest at Royal Randwick on Saturday, which is sold out and set to be attended by King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Royal Randwick Racecourse is serviced by the Light Rail, as well as buses leaving from Central Station — one of the Metro stops.
Organisers of the Crows Nest Fest said Transport for NSW was “reckless” for organising the trackwork this weekend, coinciding with their festival on Sunday.
“After 8 months of careful planning, including expanding the festival footprint to accommodate a surge in attendees from the newly opened Metro, this decision will have an unforeseen impact (on) us,” they wrote on Instagram, asking Transport Minister Jo Haylen to intervene.
Founding CEO and Artistic Director of Sculpture by the Sea, David Handley, said the organisation was “really disappointed to find out about the planned rail closures this weekend”.
“Sculpture by the Sea always encourages visitors to use public transport when coming to the exhibition,” he said.
“On each of the two occasions when this previously happened to the Eastern Suburbs line during the exhibition, Transport NSW promised it wouldn’t happen again when the system was overwhelmed. It seems that for the second time staff have change and the lesson has not been learned. It’s incredibly frustrating to be back in this situation again.”
The line is set to be closed for maintenance due to work along the extension of the south west Metro requiring a complete shutdown of the line.
A Sydney Metro spokesperson said the linework on the M1 “cannot be rescheduled”, but apologised for “any inconvenience to the community”.
“It is essential to complete critical software upgrades and to prepare to extend the line to Bankstown,” the spokesperson said.
Passengers have been advised to walk from St Leonards railway station, which is at least 10 minutes’ walk from Crows Nest Fest.
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