First train to run under harbour, 91 years after loco chugged over bridge

In the early hours of Friday, a single-deck metro train will take the first journey along a new rail line under Sydney Harbour, in a historic milestone for the city’s expanding public transport system.

More than 91 years after the first steam train travelled over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the metro train will pull out of a large rail yard at Tallawong in the city’s north-west about 2am before snaking through rail tunnels beneath the harbour and CBD as part of testing.

One of the twin tunnels on the Metro City and Southwest line.Credit: Brook Mitchell

The second rail crossing of Australia’s most famous stretch of water is part of the $20.5 billion Metro City and Southwest rail line between Chatswood and Sydenham via the CBD, and onto Bankstown in the west.

While the trains will eventually be computer-driven, they will be manually operated during the initial low-speed testing at up to 25km/h over the next three months.

High-speed testing of the trains at up to 110km/h on the line, which will gradually progress into “driverless mode”, is expected to start between July and September.

New Transport Minister Jo Haylen said it was a historic first step to have a train travel under the harbour and, more importantly, it would improve the broader rail network once the main section of the metro rail line was ready to open to passengers next year.

The first train crosses the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of testing on January 19, 1932, two months before the famed coathanger opened to the public.Credit: Philip George Clark

“I want to make sure that the Sydney Metro project delivers genuine improvements to transport services like this for passengers and for taxpayers,” she said.

The Metro City and Southwest project has been buffeted by an $8 billion blowout on its original budget, and major delays to converting a stretch of track between Sydenham and Bankstown into a line capable of carrying driverless trains every four minutes.

Sydney Metro chief executive Peter Regan said each train in the 45-strong fleet would undergo acceleration and braking testing on the newly built track and complete a series of system checks to ensure it could perform reliably under operating conditions.

“The first stage of testing is completed at low speed, with trains manually driven at a maximum speed of 25km/h,” he said. “Gradually, we see the trains move into high-speed testing, where the trains reach a maximum speed of 110km/h.”

The first train to travel along the new line under Sydney Harbour will start its journey at a large rail yard in Sydney’s north-west about 2am on Friday.Credit: Nick Moir

Low-speed testing along the 15.5-kilometre twin rail tunnels between Chatswood and Sydenham will confirm the correct operation of critical safety functions, and that communication and signalling systems are operating as expected.

During that stage, the trains are manually controlled by a driver and testing will involve checking brakes, safe distances between the top and sides of the trains and the tunnels, and ensuring that they negotiate curves and turns without problems.

The trains will also be filled with about 120 1000-litre water containers to simulate them being fully loaded with passengers.

The City and Southwest line is the second stage of Sydney’s $64 billion metro network, and follows the opening of the Metro Northwest link between Tallawong and Chatswood in 2019.

Once the so-called dynamic train testing is completed as part of construction of the City and Southwest, the line will be handed over to Metro Trains Sydney – a private consortium led by Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation which will operate it – to carry out final testing and commissioning.

When the main section of the new line opens next year, a trip from Tallawong to Sydenham will take 59 minutes, and a journey from Macquarie Park to Martin Place 20 minutes.

Commuters travelling from Sydenham to Macquarie University will no longer have to change trains at Chatswood.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.