Sydney’s New Northwest Metro to Open in May

Sydney’s new $7.3 billion northwest Metro is expected to open later this month, according to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she’s “awestruck” by the new driverless northwest Metro, which is expected to open just days after the federal election.

North West Metro to start on Sunday May 26. We promised it. We have delivered it. pic.twitter.com/URHjOveOxp

— Gladys Berejiklian (@GladysB) May 5, 2019

The line will open on May 26, and will run trains every four minutes during peak hour from Tallawong and Chatswood once it reaches full operation.

Trains will run once every five minutes for the first six weeks of operation, which Transport Minister Andrew Constance described as a “ramp up period.”

Sydney Metro is opening on 26 May. More information: https://t.co/l0bjDzpDuh pic.twitter.com/BCXXJZO1AT

— Transport for NSW (@TransportforNSW) May 5, 2019

“It will be an opportunity for commuters to experience the power of Metro, the power that it will bring to communities in the northwest, and around the corner, the rest of Sydney,” Constance told reporters.

He said the trains had been comprehensively tested, travelling more than 180,000 kilometres on the new tracks, the equivalent of circumnavigating the world more than four times.

Some of that testing included Sydney Metro workers loading more than a hundred 1,000 litre tanks of water onto the trains to simulate customer loads.

The project was completed A$1 billion under budget at a final cost of A$7.3 billion.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who announced the project as transport minister in 2011, said she was “absolutely awestruck” by the metro.

“I can’t wait for the public to have this experience in just three weeks time,” Berejiklian told reporters after taking a ride on the new train between Kellyville and Castle Hill with media and Sydney Train employees.

This new map published on the Sydney Metro website shows for the first time station general locations for Five Dock, Burwood North and North Strathfield, with possible stations for Rydalmere and Pyrmont. I don’t think any of these were confirmed before? pic.twitter.com/v174B9Vfne

— ?Gwyntaglaw (@Gwyntaglaw) April 26, 2019

By Tom Rabe