Opening date for $21.6b Sydney Harbour metro rail revealed
It’s been a seven year wait, but in four weeks passengers will finally be able to catch the new Sydney Metro from Chatswood to Sydenham.
NSW
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Sydneysiders will finally be able to catch the new $21.6 metro rail line from August 4, with the stretch between Chatswood and Sydenham ready to take passengers seven years after construction first started.
The new section to open in four weeks time will add 15.5km to the existing Northwest metro line, connecting passengers from Tallowong to Sydenham, below the harbour and through Sydney CBD in one trip.
The open date is subject to the completion of final testing and regulatory approvals, with more than 100 trials yet to be completed.
These include testing timetables for disruptions; evacuation exercises with emergency services; and simulating crowd control during major events.
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.
The link up with the existing Northwest Metro will allow 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.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the new Metro line will be the easiest way for commuters to get into the CBD going forward.
“Excitement is mounting for when commuters will be able to step on-board 445 new metro services deep below the city every day,” she said.
“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.
The brand new public transport service will absolutely transform our city … through the peak hour, this new metro service will over 37,000 people, more than the Harbour bridge and the Harbour tunnel combined.”
As passengers get used to the new system and it becomes a fully integrated part of Sydney’s transport system, the T3 Bankstown train line will be closed for 12 months to begin its conversion to Metrowest. The services will be replaced by buses between Bankstown and Sydenham.
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Originally published as Opening date for $21.6b Sydney Harbour metro rail revealed
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