Inside Sydney Metro control room amid push for 24-hour service

With Sydney embracing “Metro mania”, the private operator has confirmed it is investigating extending its operating hours. Take a look inside Metro HQ.

• 5@5 BULLETIN: Metro’s ‘mission control’ HQ

Call it “Metro mania”. Sydney’s enthusiasm for the new Metro has kickstarted investigations into the possibility of extending the operating hours on Sydney’s flagship transport network.

With Australia’s first automated train now making up to 200,000 trips per day, CEO of Metro Trains Sydney, Daniel Williams confirmed his team is independently inspecting the possibility of running constant services.

“We are talking around the potential for a 24-hour service on a Thursday and a Friday. The option is there and we are currently exploring it,” Mr Williams revealed.

Currently, the Metro closes for several hours overnight for maintenance which includes the track, signalling systems, tunnels, alarms and stations.

Mr Williams said on Thursday and Friday “there is less maintenance activity going on. What we’d be looking to do is restructure that maintenance window to distribute it across the early part of the week, so we can run trains (on those days) through the night.”

Sydney Metro City Acting Project Director Nathan Hoffmeister, left and Metro Trains Sydney CEO Daniel Williams at the Operations Control Centre in Tallawong. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“Everyone loves the new Metro and the numbers we originally had forecast … we have far surpassed those numbers. We felt after the first four weeks that may have plateaued, it completely has not.”

He pointed to the London “Tube” network, which runs for 24 hours on several days and is popular with shift workers: “The belief is it will be pretty much the same in Sydney, but we still need to test that”.

However, despite the claim from the project’s independent operator, a government spokesperson said there are “no planned changes to the current Sydney Metro timetable” and the final decision “would be made by the state government.”

The Daily Telegraph has been campaigning for extended Metro hours, with support from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, Young Labor and the business community.

She Metro is now making 200,000 trips a day. Picture: Richard Dobson / Newswire

A City of Sydney-commissioned study found improved public transport at night was needed to help the city’s night-time turnover to an annual worth of $30 billion by 2030.

INSIDE METRO’S ‘MISSION CONTROL’ HQ

This week The Daily Telegraph went inside the Metro’s “mission control”, the Operations Control Centre (OCC) at Tallawong.

Here, staff monitor 21 stations as services reach speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, arriving every four minutes during peak times.

“We’ve had eight weeks of really good, consistent performance” said Mr Williams, as he guided this masthead through the room.

Mr Williams has worked in transport for 32 years in Paris, Berlin, the UK and Toronto, but declares the Metro is “by far is the most city-shaping, life-changing project I’ve ever been involved with”.

Staffers monitor Metro movements at the Tallawong control centre. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The centrepiece of the OCC is a 17-metre screen, offering a live visual representation of the location and status of each train “set”, plus a range of CCTV cameras.

Staff, who generally work 12 hour shifts, perform specialist operational duties to ensure the network runs smoothly.

The Metro is controlled by a “central brain” called the Automatic Train System, programmed by complex algorithms, which send out various instructions.

When those systems fail, an alarm rings out in the control room, allowing staff to pinpoint the issue and resolve it immediately. Overwhelmingly, the problem is simply caused by a blocked door. Alarms rang out frequently during this masthead’s visit.

Pashin Madan, one of the Train Controllers working on a section of the line said “when a door strike does happen, the camera pops up so we can actually see which door it is. We can automate it or liaise with station staff if they need to be physically closed.”

A separate role is Station Controller — who interact with Metro staff on the ground at each individual location and handle passenger flow on platforms, while also cataloguing faults.

Staff monitor the driverless trains from the Metro Trains Sydney Mission Control Centre in Tallawong today. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The Information Security Controller is tasked with monitoring anti-social behaviour and keeping customers safe. There are an astonishing 3500 cameras scattered across the Metro.

“The real science of this system is being able to pinpoint a particular location” Mr Williams said.

“If a passenger was to press the emergency alarm, what would ultimately happen is that camera would be trained right in on that person’s location.

“We have an excellent working relationship here with the local police and they’re even quite frequently asking us for playbacks on CCTV, asking us to hone in on certain areas. We can (also) pause trains outside of platforms to enable the police to be present.”

The Metro has 45 train sets, which are rotated through a “set cycle”, as only 31 are in action during peak times. Some of these sets will also be used in the future, when the line extends into the Metro South West.

Screens and cameras follow every Metro move. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Operators at the OCC have the ability to add additional trains to the grid from either Tallawong or Sydenham. They can also override the route and skip stations, which occurred this week after a fire alarm at Gadigal.

Another senior role — described by Mr Williams as “the conductor of the orchestra” — is the Manager of Network Control, who ensures the line is running to its meticulous schedule. A complex spirograph gives live indications of performance times.

“This role is absolutely key, because the slightest distortion in the network can take a period of time to recover” Mr Williams said.

“They have a difficult role in trying to balance the customer needs with equally trying to deliver a safe, reliable, high performing network.”

Before launching, Metro staff held more than 240 drills and exercises, including with emergency services.

Station Controller Riva Shaheen, Chief Controller Daniel Merlino and Station Controller Nicole Radakovic, at the Metro’s OCC. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“That is everything from someone putting a suspect package on the train, right through to smoke on a train, right through to a door obstruction or an escalator not working. A real series of structured drills and exercises” Mr Williams said.

Future options include extending hours of operation and also the ability to run services every two-and-a-half minutes, although that has only happened during testing.

Eight weeks since the extended line opened, passenger numbers have exceeded predictions, a phenomenon known internally as “Metro Mania”, and the flow-on effect is an improved performance on Sydney’s above ground rail.

“This has made Sydney a truly international city” Mr Williams said.

Originally published as Inside Sydney Metro control room amid push for 24-hour service