Tens of thousands of commuters have begun riding on the Sydney Metro’s city section on Monday morning as the first new train line running underneath the city centre in more than four decades opened to the public.
The first metro train service on the new section left Sydenham at 4.54am, travelling the newly opened stretch of the extension under Sydney harbour to reach Chatswood station by 5.16am, where it continued on to Tallawong on the original north-west line that opened in 2019.
In the reverse direction, the first train from Tallawong to travel past Chatswood arrived at the newly built Crows Nest metro station at 5.20am. Trains were packed during the morning peak, standing room only as they carried passengers into the city.
Train enthusiasts eagerly anticipating the line’s opening arrived at stations early on Monday to be among the first to ride the city section. Later in the morning platforms began filling with excited Sydneysiders. At Central, passengers arriving at the station from other lines took a detour to visit the Metro platforms – riding the longest escalators in the southern hemisphere, and taking photos and videos of the trains arriving.
The New South Wales transport minister, Jo Haylen, was also on the first public service out of Sydenham station.
School friends Vishnu Sivamogga and Ernie Stopic said they made plans at 8pm on Sunday night to wake early for the first train service from Sydenham. After boarding the 4.54am train, the 18-year-old self-described “transport enthusiasts” had travelled to every station on the newly opened line by 7.45am.
“We’ve reviewed every escalator, every station, reviewing all the aesthetics,” Sivamogga, from Jannali, said. Sivamogga and Stopic 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.
They were joined by Henry Phyo, also 18, and other friends who had been inspecting every element of every station, gathering excitedly on the platforms of Waterloo, wearing pins handed out by the Metro staff to mark the opening day. Phyo, from Picnic Point, said his favourite station was Crows Nest, which the group agreed was constructed with interesting brickwork patterns.
“Boys, let’s get a selfie,” the group shouted on the platforms, as they stood huddled looking back through pictures they had taken across the stations.
Another passenger, Mark from Wolli Creek, caught the train to Sydenham on Monday morning, where he will be able to stay on just one metro service to Macquarie Park in Sydney’s north shore where he works. He said his new commute should be about 15 minutes faster as a result. “It’s convenient for me in particular,” he said. “I guess we’ll see what the speeds are like.”
Guardian Australia understands the initial services in the early hours of the opening day ran smoothly ahead of the line’s first big test – Monday morning peak commuting.
The highly anticipated city extension of the driverless metro line had been scheduled to open on Sunday 4 August, but this was postponed after final safety approvals were not received in the days leading up to its opening, amid reports a firefighter conducting safety drills received an electric shock that raised authorities’ alarm.
Last Thursday, the NSW government set Monday as the new opening day, hours after the rail safety regulator granted final approvals.
Works on the Chatswood to Sydenham section began in 2017, with a tunnel boring megaproject under Sydney harbour drilling a new rail line under the ocean floor.
Five new stations – Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Gadigal, Waterloo – as well as new platforms and entrances at the existing Martin Place and Central stations make up the 15.5km new section.
The Chatswood to Sydenham part of the $21.6bn line – which will reach Bankstown after an existing heavy rail track conversion is complete in coming years – will drastically cut travel times in Sydney.
A trip from Victoria Cross in North Sydney, under the new harbour crossing to Barangaroo, will take three minutes as top speeds reach 100km/h, while the entire Chatswood to Sydenham journey lasts 22 minutes.
While metro trains carry fewer passengers than the famed multi-carriage double decker workhorses of Sydney’s train network, the metro line’s overall capacity will exceed existing train lines due to its high frequency of services.
At peak times, the Sydney Metro line through the city will carry up to 40,000 passengers an hour.
The NSW government has also billed the line as a “turn up and go” service: a train will arrive at least every four minutes in morning and evening peak periods, with a capacity of every two minutes if pushed.
Services will run every five minutes in the middle of the day and every 10 minutes at night and weekends.
Changes to bus routes surrounding new stations will come into effect after the opening. The Sydenham to Bankstown train line will be shut down for up to 18 months as its tracks are converted to accommodate metro services.
