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Testing under Sydney Harbour has proved new metro trains can travel at 100kmh (twice the speed of regular trains)

Turn-up-and-go trains – and new Sydney stations – are on track to get commuters moving at speed in 2024

Maya Skidmore
Alice Ellis
Written by
Maya Skidmore
Written by:
Alice Ellis
Waterloo Station
Photograph: Justin SansonWaterloo Station
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Sydney commuters – we've been hearing for so long about the upcoming new underground metro; it's hard to believe that it'll ever actually open. But the time is actually coming, for real. Speed testing in the tunnels under Sydney Harbour has proved the metro trains can travel twice the speed of our regular trains, accelerating from a standstill to a speed of 100 kilometres per hour within about 15 seconds. 

Next year, the turn-up-and-go metro trains will get you from the massive new Victoria Cross underground station at North Sydney to Barangaroo in three minutes. Two minutes later, the tester train pulls up at another new station at Martin Place.

“Extensive testing has been underway on the City and Southwest metro line since April 2023," says NSW Minister for Transport, Jo Haylen. "So far more than 2,500 hours and 12,500 kilometres of testing has been completed as we countdown to the opening of the next exciting stage of metro.”

Sydney Metro workers at new station
Photograph: SuppliedSydney Metro workers at new station

There are six new, accessible city stations that will open in 2024. One of the other newbies is Waterloo Metro Station, which is now 95 per cent done. From Waterloo, passengers will be able to get to Central in two minutes, Barangaroo in eight, and North Sydney in eleven. 

At the moment, lifts, escalators and station signs are all being finalised at Waterloo.  

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Declaring itself ‘Australia’s biggest public transport project’, the Sydney Metro will ultimately have ultra-fast trains running from the north-west to the greater west of the city. It is expected that by 2030, Sydneysiders will be able to ride on super fast trains on four new metro lines, to 46 stations, on 113 kilometre of brand-new metro rail. 

After opening in 2019, the Metro North West line has been serving super speedy (every four minutes, to be exact) transport between Tallawong and Chatswood, but it will be extended into Sydney’s CBD in 2024. However, the new Sydney Metro West line – which will connect Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD – has been delayed, and won't be done until more like 2030. 

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