What it’s like to ride on Sydney’s shiny new Metro Northwest driverless trains

Thousands are expected to bombard Sydney’s shiny new driverless trains this weekend, but there’s a couple of things you should look out for.

It has been more than 20 years since the idea of Metro Northwest first sparked excitement among Sydneysiders who wanted a world-class public transport system for the city.

But, this weekend the $7.3 billion high-frequency, driverless, 36km train system between Tallawong station and Chatswood in the city’s northwest will finally open its doors.

On Sunday — as the city is inundated with thousands of tourists for the Vivid festival — thousands are expected to bombard the Metro’s shiny new trains, especially given it will be free to use on the first day.

News.com.au was lucky enough to take a high-speed ride through the system before its grand opening, and what we discovered was amusing, impressive and worrying in equal measure.

For this news.com.au reporter, the prospect of travelling through Sydney’s northwest brought back bleak memories.

The Sydney Metro Northwest service will open on Sunday, when you can ride for free.

During my time as an intrepid local hack on the NewsLocal newspapers serving the good people of Sydney’s Hills district, I would endure Tolkienesque multi-leg bus journeys twice daily to and from my uncle’s home, where I had kindly been put up, in the city’s eastern suburbs.

The epic two-and-a-bit hour, one-way journeys were only made bearable by the fact I could often sprawl out on the back seat of the bus and catch some much-needed shut-eye.

But, oh, how times have changed.

Rolling down the escalators inside the new metro stations, like the one we departed from in North Ryde this week, the first thing that hits you is the smell.

It’s that joy-inducing smell of something new that becomes stronger as you descend deeper towards the station platform.

When you finally land at the platform, you’ll notice there is a massive glass barricade separating you from the tracks, complete with automated sliding doors that only open when your train has arrived.

The automated platform screen doors can be absolutely ruthless, so no mucking around alright?

These screens, which are designed to stop you falling onto the track, are adorned with colourful buzzphrases — which all have a stylised M in them — replicating the Sydney Metro logo.

They vary from generic everyday phrases you might be vaguely familiar with, such as “G’day Mate” and “top up My Opal”.

Some are plain cringey, such as “proud of Myself”, “How’s your Mum?” and “I love My new shoes”.

But some are just downright bizarre, such as one that reads “Say hi to My neighbour”.

As my colleague rightfully questioned, why would you ask someone else to say “hi” to your neighbour? Bit creepy.

Who comes up with this stuff?

Some of the phrases are cheesy to say the least.

Nice of them to ask how your mum is, I guess.

But on a mildly more serious note, these screen doors can be genuinely ruthless — as we found out the hard way.

When stepping onto a carriage for the return leg of my journey, I was walking mere inches behind my cameraman when the door abruptly slammed shut, catching his backpack in the process.

The train then bolted off into the void before I’d even made sense of what happened.

Alas, we were separated, but I was cheerfully reminded by staffers that the next metro train would be in seven minutes — and to my relief it turned up.

Riding back on my lonesome, I had a chance to appreciate how sleek, impressive and quiet the trains actually are.

The 120m-long trains, which will eventually arrive every four minutes at peak hour, hurtle along at speeds of more than 100km/h without so much as making a sound.

There are also some nice touches, such as the digital screens inside the carriages with green bars, which show you how far you are from the next stop, and arrows on the platform edge, which show commuters how to embark and disembark in an orderly fashion.

A nice touch for people who don’t understand how to board a train in a civil way.

Perhaps it is to be expected with a $7.3 billion price tag, but it’s clear this is a gamechanger for a region of Sydney that has suffered with abysmal public transport for so long.

The high frequency turn-up-and-go service means you don’t even need to plan your trip.

Starting at Tallawong, the trains will make stops at stations in Rouse Hill, Kellyville and Bella Vista, continuing to Norwest station, Hills Showground station, through to Castle Hill, Cherrybrook, Epping, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, North Ryde and Chatswood, where customers will switch lines to board city-bound trains.

The Metro trains will stop at 13 stations on the northwest link.

On Sunday, all 13 North West Metro stations will open to the public from 11am. The last Metro train will leave Chatswood at 10.05pm and Tallawong at 9.35pm.

It will be free all day, but if you’re using other public transport from outside the area, or going beyond Chatswood on the Sydney Trains network, you will still need to tap on and off — so don’t forget your Opal card.

In terms of parking, 4000 new commuter spaces have been built at some of the Metro stations, including 125 for people with disabilities. Signs will indicate to motorists when carparks are close to reaching capacity, which is expected to be early for northwest commuters.

There are 1000 spaces at Tallawong, 1360 at Kellyville, 800 at Bella Vista, 600 at Hills Showground and 400 at Cherrybrook.

At stations without parking, a greater emphasis will be put on pedestrian safety, with motorists monitored closely, especially during peak hours.

Once the network reaches full operation, trains will run every four minutes during peak hour.

Bus services will still be available when the Metro opens on Sunday, with direct buses travelling to the city from Rouse Hill.

Improvements to the bus network in Sydney’s north will be made to support the introduction of the Metro rail and to help customers access the new stations.

There will also be a northwest night bus service operating over the next six months, Sunday through Wednesday nights. The first service will depart at 9.25pm and the last at 12.10am. Buses will leave every 10 minutes on two available routes — an all-stops route and a limited stops route between Metro stations.

Night services won’t run for the first six months of the Metro’s opening, but buses will stop between Rouse Hill and Chatswood from 9.30pm to 4.30am once works have been completed.

For more information on the Metro, visit the Transport for NSW website.

Originally published as What it’s like to ride on Sydney’s shiny new Metro Northwest driverless trains