Self-described train nerds were most of the roughly 900 people who braved the dark hours of Monday morning to ride the first public service of Sydney Metro’s new city section when it departed Sydenham at 4:54am.
Anticipation for the new line – the first with new stations underneath Sydney’s CBD in more than four decades – had been picking up steam since the tunnelling megaproject under Sydney Harbour began in 2017.
Trainspotters have been watching and waiting since 4 August, the original launch date that came and went because final safety approvals were delayed. Their cheers were that much louder, then, when the line finally launched today.
“It was crammed, it felt like you were lining up for a concert,” said Jessica Parsons, who likened the experience to when she walked into a Taylor Swift concert earlier this year.
The 20-year-old from Newcastle decided late on Sunday to travel to Sydney for the first service with her friend, Hayley Johnson, in a hurried endeavour that included using a hairdryer on the hand-painted T-shirts the pair had prepared for opening day – taking inspiration from Charli xcx’s Brat album art.
They boarded an intercity train that left Newcastle at 10:40pm, arrived at Sydney’s Central at about 1am, and met up with fellow diehard ferroequinologists – train fans – who they killed time with before getting to Sydenham for the maiden service.
Six hours of Metro riding later, and running on no sleep, they took a break on a bench inside Waterloo station, as they prepared to head to a special opening day train trivia at Barangaroo with other enthusiasts.
Also on the 4:54am train from Sydenham were school friends Vishnu Sivamogga and Ernie Stopic. By 7:45am, they had travelled to all nine stations on the newly opened line – some new, some existing.
“We’ve reviewed every escalator, every station, reviewing all the aesthetics,” Sivamogga, who lives in the southern Sydney suburb of Jannali, said.
The pair said Martin Place was their favourite station so far, but the “most artistic and cool one is the Gadigal”, according to Stopic, from Marrickville.
“Victoria Cross has some really nice escalators though,” Stopic added.
There was also Phalla Lonh, a Buddhist monk, who travelled from Cabramatta just to experience the train and see the new stations. “It’s very smooth,” he said, unable to stop grinning.
Other train fans dyed their hair teal blue, a homage to the Metro’s colour scheme. On board a service at about 11am, Guardian Australia met one train enthusiast who declined to give their name or be photographed, as they had called in sick to work so they could be among the first to ride the Metro.
But of the 200,000 others who were set to use the service during the opening day, it appeared to be more than just train nerds who have been won over by the speedy, frequent driverless services and architecturally designed stations.
It passed its first major test – Monday’s morning travel peak – without incident, with packed city-bound services offering only standing room.
At about 8am, 13-year-old Humphery Adigao stood at the front of his Metro train, filming the tunnel ahead on his phone during his journey from Liverpool in the city’s south west to his school in the CBD.
“I feel like the driver,” Adigao said. “It’s very fast, it’s exhilarating,” he said of the train, which will allow him to sleep an extra 20 minutes each morning before school.
Metro trains are notably faster than Sydney’s famed double decker heavy rail carriages and while they have run in a limited capacity on a stretch of the city’s north-west since 2019, most Sydneysiders haven’t relied on a Metro train for daily use.
As it zoomed under the ocean floor of Sydney Harbour from Barangaroo to Victoria Cross in North Sydney, reaching 100km/h, some passengers appeared to lose balance, stunned at the speed of the three-minute trip.
Now, as more of the city’s five million residents eventually get their taste, politicians and urban planners are hoping the initial enthusiasm will be infectious.
The Sydney Metro’s line through the city, the upcoming conversion of the rest of the south-west extension to metro, as well as further lines through the western suburbs are all part of the NSW government’s approach to easing the housing crisis.
However, those living from Bankstown to Sydenham will rely on replacement buses for their commutes for at least a year.
NSW transport minister Jo Haylen, who was also on the 4:54am inaugural service, said the city section of the Metro would be “a transformational piece of the city”.
“You could see the enthusiasm and excitement on their faces for what this means for our city.”
