Final stretch of Sydney metro line faces crucial summer test

Crucial testing of driverless trains along the final stretch of Sydney’s mega M1 metro line is due to start by February after workers made significant progress upgrading one of the city’s oldest rail lines.

Almost six weeks after a disruptive 12-month shutdown of the T3 Bankstown line began, 160 out of 360 platform screen doors have been installed at 10 stations being upgraded, while the rest are due to be fitted by month’s end.

Workers install platform screen doors on platforms at Canterbury station.Credit: NSW government

Canterbury station is the first to have a full set of screen doors installed, creating a 180-metre-long barrier along both sides of its platforms. Each of the glass doors takes about six hours to prepare and install.

Almost two-thirds of 170 mechanical gap fillers between platforms and trains needed for the line have been fitted. The small hydraulic platforms will extend to train carriages before screen doors open, allowing commuters to step on and off safely.

Curves in the station platforms have necessitated the gap fillers, illustrating the complexity of converting the 130-year-old rail line to metro train standards.

Gap-filler installation has been completed at Marrickville, Canterbury, Hurlstone Park, Campsie and Dulwich Hill stations, leaving them to be put in place at Belmore, Punchbowl and Lakemba before train testing can start.

Since major construction started in late September, all but a kilometre of a 21-kilometre stretch of security and rail segregation fencing has been installed.

Up to 800 people are working on the project every day to convert the line between Sydenham and Bankstown. Installation of gap fillers, screen doors and fencing will clear the way for the start of testing on the final stretch of the M1 line by February.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said platform screen doors were an essential part of delivering a new transport system, allowing passengers to jump aboard with ease.

“We are making every second of this closure count so that people living in Sydney’s south-west will have access to game-changing, fast, reliable and safe metro services,” she said.

The 13-kilometre stretch will become the final part of the M1 metro railway between Tallawong in the north-west and Bankstown once the conversion of the old line is completed. The city-section between Chatswood and Sydenham opened in late August.

Premier Chris Minns said the state was losing twice as many young people as it was gaining, and building homes near major public transport projects such as the metro line was a critical part of the solution to making housing more affordable.

Under the government plans, up to 12,500 homes will be built near Bankstown station, comprising residential and commercial buildings between one and 25 storeys.

The state is spending an extra $1.1 billion on the rail conversion, taking the expected cost of the metro line between Chatswood and Bankstown to $21.6 billion.

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