Metro City opening date revealed, slashing travel times for commuters

Commuters in Sydney will soon have their commute time halved, with the opening date for the new eight new train stations revealed.

Commuters from Sydney’s north will be able to halve their travel times into the city in just over a month, with the next piece of the Sydney Metro set to open in August.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that trials of a full-service timetable are now underway on the Sydney Metro City project running from Chatswood, under the CBD, out to Sydenham.

Premier Chris Minns will announce on Monday that the line is expected to open for passengers in August.

The trials of a full-service timetable involve around 1000 people playing the role of fare-paying customers on the Metro network.

The Metro City line will open up a number of new stations in the CBD and inner suburbs giving commuters a turn-up-and-go service every few minutes.

The stations through which Metro services will begin running in August are: Crows Nest, Victoria Cross (North Sydney), Barangaroo, Martin Place, Gadigal (Pitt Street), Central, Waterloo, and Sydenham.

Sydney Metro City will open in August, with new stations in North Sydney and Sydney's CBD. Supplied.

It will link up with the existing Northwest Metro, allowing commuters to travel all the way from Tallawong in Rouse Hill to Sydenham in the Inner West in 59 minutes.

The Metro line will be able to move more people across the harbour during peak periods than the Harbour Bridge and Harbour Tunnel combined, getting commuters from Central to Chatswood in just 15 minutes.

A trip from Martin Place to Waterloo will take just six minutes, and commuters will get from North Sydney under the harbour to Barangaroo in three.

A trip from North Sydney to Barangaroo will take three minutes. Supplied.

When The Telegraph was given exclusive access inside the Metro City project last year, it took just seven minutes to get from Crows Nest to Martin Place.

The same trip, at the same time of day, took 14 minutes by car – double the time it will take on the Metro.

Since testing began in April 2023, approximately 9800 hours of trials have been run along the 51.5Km line from Tallawong to Sydenham out of a total 11,000 hours of testing.

The Metro City line links Tallawong in the North West to Sydenham in the Inner West. Supplied.

The Metro trains, operating on twin tracks, will be able to carry 40,000 passengers during peak hours, compared to the Bridge and Tunnel, which carry almost 32,000 combined – based on planning documents from 2016.

The next stage of the Metro network will be converting the T3 Sydenham to Bankstown line from heavy rail to a turn-up-and-go Metro service.

That stage will open some time next year.

The fully automated driverless Metro cars are undergoing their final tests. Supplied.

The T3 line will have to be closed to facilitate the conversion, with that closure to occur after Metro services start running from Sydenham to the city – in August.

Mr Minns said the metro line – announced by and commenced under the Coalition – was part of a “city shaping public transport project” which will help thousands of people spend less time travelling and more time with loved ones.

Sydney Metro City will open in August, with new stations in North Sydney and Sydney's CBD. The stations that are opening in August are: Crows nest Victoria cross Barangaroo Martin Place Gadigal Central Waterloo Sydenham Sydenham to Bankstown won't open until 2025. Tallawong to Chatswood is already open. Picture: Supplied

He said the Metro will help support more housing for “ a generation of young people who have been locked out of homes for too long”.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen labelled the Metro network as “the biggest transformation in public transport Sydney has ever seen.”

“Soon Sydney will have a world-class metro service travelling right through the heart of the CBD,” she said.

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