New name revealed for Sydney’s metro line beneath harbour and CBD

Sydney’s $21.6 billion metro rail system under the harbour and CBD, along with the existing driverless train line it connects to, will be known as the “M1” when it opens to passengers within the next few months.

Although a firm date for the opening is yet to be set, up to eight weeks of trial operations that are needed before passengers can hop on board indicate the ribbon cutting for the new metro line will not occur until July at the earliest.

The extension of the metro rail line under Sydney Harbour and the CBD is due to open within months.Credit: Nick Moir

The second stage of the city’s expanding driverless train network has been known as Sydney Metro City and Southwest during seven years of construction.

It is an extension of the existing Metro Northwest line, which opened in 2019 between Rouse Hill and Chatswood at a cost of $7.3 billion.

Once the main underground section of the second stage opens, driverless trains will run the entire length of the 66-kilometre line from the city’s northwest to Sydenham via the CBD and, by late next year, onto Bankstown.

A new map for Sydney’s rail network now refers to the entire line as the “M1”, not to be confused with the city’s motorways which are abbreviated to “M” and a number.

The updated Sydney trains and Metro map. Credit: Transport for NSW

The M1 echoes the use of “T” and a number for the city’s suburban rail lines, such as the T1 Western, and “L” and a number for the light rail routes.

Sydney Metro chief executive Peter Regan said rebranding it as the M1 was one of the ways to help passengers navigate the line, stations and rest of the city’s rail network.

“You see when each piece of it comes on board, how important … that is for people to just intuitively be able to walk around,” he said.

Regan said naming the rail lines and stations had been challenging, noting the years of work that went into selecting “Gadigal” for the new underground metro station near Town Hall.

London’s first major railway in decades was known as Crossrail during construction before it was renamed the Elizabeth line after the late Queen.

The selection of M1 makes it likely that the under-construction driverless train line to Western Sydney Airport, as well as the $25 billion Metro West between the CBD and Parramatta, will become the M2 and M3.

While the government aims to cut the ribbon on the new line under the heart of the city in the middle of this year, a firm date for the opening has yet to be set by the project team.

The new line is expected to be handed over in the coming weeks to Metro Trains Sydney, a private consortium led by Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation which will operate it.

Regan said the line would then undergo “trial operations” for six to eight weeks and require safety accreditation to be signed off.

A firm date for the opening, which will be on a weekend, will be narrowed down within a few weeks of trial operations starting.

“The final opening date could be influenced by the final software upgrades that have to go in and things like that,” he said.

“We’ve been targeting the middle of the year for a long time [and] we’re on track for that. Exactly when will be a bit close to the time because we’ve got to make sure everything is right. We won’t open it until it’s ready.”

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