Stuck train forces evacuation of 150 Sydney metro passengers

About 150 passengers were evacuated from a driverless metro train stuck in a tunnel at Hills Showground station on the M1 metro line on Saturday afternoon.

Internal communications by Fire and Rescue NSW obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald show the passengers were stuck on the train for about half an hour. The train was stuck in the tunnel towards the end of one of the platforms at the station.

The Hills Showground metro station.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Firefighters were called at 3.17pm to help evacuate the train. Firefighters were not aware of any medical issues with passengers, but the event was classified as a “rescue incident”.

It puts a dampener on what has otherwise been a smooth six days for the M1 metro line since the city section between Chatswood and Sydenham opened in the early hours of Monday.

The NSW Transport Management Centre said in an update on Saturday about 5pm: “Metro services are running again between Bella Vista and Castle Hill on the Metro North West & Bankstown Line after power supply issues at Hills Showground earlier.

“Buses had been replacing services between Bella Vista and Castle Hill. Passengers should continue to allow extra travel time, listen to announcements and check information displays for updates as services return to normal.”

The fully automated line is operated by Metro Trains Sydney, a private consortium led by Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation, John Holland and UGL.

Saturday’s incident comes six weeks after a system-wide outage left passengers stuck on trains in tunnels for two hours.

The meltdown on July 13, before the extended line opened, left about 100 passengers trapped on five trains along the Metro Northwest line between Tallawong and Chatswood.

On July 16, the Herald revealed internal reports by senior commanders from Fire and Rescue NSW, along with an incident log, which detailed the disarray confronting firefighters three days earlier as they worked to help free about 100 passengers trapped on five trains along the Metro Northwest line between Tallawong and Chatswood.

One of the reports warned that there was “zero appreciation of extreme danger to life by onsite Metro staff”. The staff had suggested firefighters walk through a tunnel to the stranded trains without confirming that high-voltage power had been switched off, the internal review said.

A Sydney Metro spokesperson said: “At 2.40pm Saturday 24 August, the metro experienced a signalling issue resulting in some service disruption.

“One metro train was stopped 100m from Showground station, with 150 customers onboard. This service was manually taken to Showground Station where customers were safely disembarked at the platform. Regular announcements were made onboard to ensure customers were kept informed.

“Carousel services were implemented Castle Hill to Sydenham, and Tallawong to Bella Vista to enable services to continue running uninterrupted in the City. Bus replacement services were also running between Bella Vista and Castle Hill to keep customers moving.

“Trains resumed normal service at 4.50pm.”

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