It’s the transport project that’s expected to reshape the future of how Sydneysiders move about their city.
And riding the new Sydney Metro City line from Sydenham to Chatswood definitely feels a bit like something from a science fiction movie.
Rocketing under Sydney Harbour at 100 kilometres per hour, you can peer through the front window of the driverless train to see lights streaking past as you travel through twin tunnels up to 40 metres below the surface of the water.
The shiny new futuristic stations along the way are far from the grimy underground stops that commuters are used to shuffling through in the bowels of Town Hall or Wynyard.
And it’s being sold as a project that offers people a seamless commute on routes that used to be a hassle, potentially enticing more people from behind the wheels of their cars and opening up new destinations for social outings.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new line that opened today.
What is it exactly?
The new metro is a 15.5km underground line connecting Sydenham in Sydney’s inner west to Chatswood in its north, snaking its way beneath the CBD and diving under Sydney Harbour along the way.
Its turn-up-and-go driverless trains will connect with the existing Metro Northwest line, which has been running automated single-deck trains from Tallawong to Chatswood since 2019.
The trains will run every four minutes during the morning and evening peak, and initially every seven minutes during the day.
It means that for the first time commuters on the Metro Northwest line won’t have to change to conventional double-decker trains at Chatswood to get into the city and can travel in one journey all the way to Sydenham.
And commuters from Sydenham and Waterloo won’t have to switch trains before accessing the northern side of the harbour and areas like the business district at Macquarie Park.
Sydney Metro City and Southwest project director Hugh Lawson said it’s a game-changer.
“Even before the opening people [were] talking about journeys that they couldn’t take before,” he said.
“When people get on the metro and they experience just how quick it is it really will change the way people think about where they are and how they move around.”
Eventually the line will travel all the way out to Bankstown, but that section won’t be open for at least a year.
When the new section of the track opens today after seven years of construction, the entire line will be rebranded as the M1.
The project has definitely not been without controversy though, and its $21.6 billion price tag is almost $10 billion over the original $12 billion forecast when the project was announced.
ABC News
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