‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ How Sydneysiders greeted the gleaming new metro

It’s said that people vote with their feet. And if that’s the metric used to judge day one of the city’s new driverless train service, then Sydney Metro was a stunning success.

As 40,000 Sydney commuters tapped their Opal cards onto the seven new glistening stations running through the CBD on Monday morning, commuters and train enthusiasts alike joined in celebrating what had been a long time coming.

Finally, the metro was here, ready to whisk Sydneysiders into a new era of transport that was quietly being built right under their feet.

It was a good morning for Gilnar Khoury, who commutes to Martin Place from Epping for work at an investment bank. She and her husband had resorted to driving in because of train delays. But with the new line, she had already saved at least a quarter of an hour on her regular commute to the CBD.

“I’m just thinking of my kids going out and about,” she reflected. “They can go to Sydenham, and meet their friends in Marrickville … this is what Sydney’s been needing for a long time.”

At Gadigal Station, Mohamad Winata couldn’t help but look at the ceiling.

Morning commuter Gilnar Khoury was excited to use the new metro at Martin Place.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

“The station is amazing, the architecture is divine,” he said. “Very European vibes.”

Chris Carson compared it to the newly opened Elizabeth line in London: “Cavernous and clean.”

Train enthusiasts rode up and down the line most of the morning, occasionally congregating to celebrate the day and film interviews for each other’s YouTube channels. Aside from their celebrations and the additional Metro staff offering support to confused commuters, there were few signs that it was the first day of operations.

Tens of thousands of people passed through the key city stations with only the slightest hints of unease. In a way, that was the greatest compliment the system could get: it all worked.

A couple hold hands as they take the escalators after disembarking from a train at the Victoria Cross Metro station in North Sydney.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Those in a rush occasionally looked up from their phones to navigate their way out of the stations, while one Sydney Trains worker at the new Martin Place metro station had to ask for directions to the corridor connecting to the train platforms.

By mid-morning, metro riders in the city stations were still flowing at force, and the trains were relatively busy.

Herald reader Belinda Anderson said she took the metro from Gadigal to Macquarie University and “absolutely love[d] it”, because it saves her 20 minutes each way: “Well worth the wait and thanks to all the workers involved.”

As an early train from Tallawong, the northern end of the line, zoomed into Barangaroo Station, a woman stepped out onto the platform.

A man standing under the station sign greeted her with a huge, celebratory smile. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

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