Over the past few months, we’ve seen New South Wales’ public transport system making serious tracks (pun intended) – with Parramatta’s Light Rail reaching a major milestone, a hydrogen bus operating in the Illawarra, and confirmation of Sydney’s Metro West being announced along with the promise of a $1.9 billion investment in Western Sydney's public transport system. Now, the route times have been released for Sydney Metro City & Southwest line as it prepares to begin passenger services later this year (with the opening date slated for August) – and it looks like your commute could get a whole lot quicker.
While most of us have been easing into the first full work week of the year, testing on the 15.5-kilometre twin metro tunnels between Chatswood and Sydenham have been amping up – with major testing milestones being hit on Saturday, January 6 and Sunday, January 7. Over the weekend, 33 of all 45 metro trains in the combined fleet completed at least one return journey between Tallawong and Sydenham, and eight trains have now successfully travelled on the new track at the same time. This train capacity is double the previous maximum of four trains running simultaneously, and both the capacity and speed of this shiny new transport system is set to make travelling through Sydney a whole lot smoother. The metro has been described by Transport Minister Jo Haylen as “Australia’s biggest public transport project,” and with six new stations opening up beneath Sydney CBD and new routes that could take commuters from Sydenham to Chatswood in 22 minutes, we’re feeling optimistic.
As part of this phase of testing, Transport for NSW have confirmed new journey times for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest line, and it’s good news for commuters.
The world-class metro services housed deep below the Sydney CBD will provide commuters to an easy, fast and reliable public transport service which aims to see trains come and go every four minutes by 2025. The predicted journey times for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest line include:
- Castle Hill to Martin Place in 35 minutes
- Macquarie University to Central in 26 minutes
- Chatswood to Gadigal in 13 minutes
- North Sydney’s Victoria Cross under the harbour to Barangaroo in 3 minutes
- Central to Martin Place in 4 minutes
- Central to Sydenham in 7 minutes
- Sydenham to Chatswood in 22 minutes
In order to complete the transport system, the T3 Bankstown line will be closed for the 12-month conversion project, and Transport for NSW will release alternative transport options in the coming months as testing on the metro continues.
You can learn more about the progress of and plans for the project over here.