Sydneysiders are voting with their feet on the new Sydney Metro City line, with the first full day of services completed on Monday after the historic opening of the extended M1 Northwest & Bankstown Line.
More than 190,000 trips were made along the brand-new driverless service on day one marking the first ever trains under Sydney Harbour. For the first time, people in Sydney’s north west can now stay on the train at Chatswood, travel below the harbour and through the Sydney CBD, to Sydenham.
A game-changing 30 services ran every hour through the heart of the city during the peak, starting at Tallawong at 4:38am and Sydenham at 4.54am, with more than 425 trains making the trip.
Central took out the title of busiest station, with over 18,000 passengers entering and exiting from the state-of-the-art transport hub, followed closely by Martin Place.
Sydneysiders were seamlessly switching between travel modes with 6 per cent of trips coming from buses and 20 per cent from Sydney Train services.
Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said as of 10am Tuesday morning, 55,000 people have tapped on to the new Metro service. That’s up from 40,000 the same time Monday.
“As we start our second day of full operation, it is amazing to see thousands of Sydneysiders trying this new form of public transport, getting to work and home faster, and giving north west residents their first direct rail service to the CBD,” she said.
“Commuters have been waiting patiently for this game-changing service, and we can proudly say this will forever change the way Sydneysider travel, from their daily commute to work, to weekend adventures and everything in between.”
The new service launched to a weekday timetable with a train running every four minutes during the peak, and from today interpeak trains will run every seven minutes, increasing after the first month to a train every five minutes.
Additional staff are present at each station and on trains during operational hours, while commuters become familiar with the new service.
Passengers can plan their metro trips by visiting transportnsw.info.
Transport for NSW Secretary Josh Murray spoke about the historic day.
“Yesterday (Monday) we saw 37,500 people change between trains and metro services and 11,500 people changed between metro and buses,” he said.
“It shows all the pieces of the public transport network are working together and people are making the most of these new ways to travel around our city.”
The Metro North West line opened in 2019, and with this extension now reaches 51.5-kilometres through Sydney with stops at 21 stations between Tallawong and Sydenham. The remaining 13-kilometres of the M1 Line will open after the conversion of 10 existing stations on the T3 Bankstown Line.
With unprecedented travel times including from Victoria Cross in North Sydney, under the harbour to Barangaroo in 3 minutes, Martin Place to Chatswood in 11 minutes and from Sydenham to Tallawong in under 60 minutes, this new line is already alleviating pressure on existing transport options and road networks.
Sydney Metro City Project Director Hugh Lawson spoke about what the occasion meant for the team.
“It was a really proud moment for me and my team as we saw people tap onto Metro under the CBD for the first time,” he said.
“Years of work is finally on show as hundreds of thousands of Sydneysiders flow through our brand new stations.
“Well done to everyone who played a role in the project and thank you to everyone who’s given Metro a go and tapped on.”
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