Sydney's south-west metro extension opened to passengers on Friday, with the first service departing Bankstown at 4.31am and running through to Sydenham in a little over 20 minutes before continuing to Tallawong in the city's north-west. The opening ends more than two years of replacement buses on the corridor. According to The Guardian, the new stretch completes a continuous 66km driverless line.
Why it matters
The extension converts a section of the former T3 heavy rail line to rapid transit. Ten stations — Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Hurlstone Park, Canterbury, Campsie, Belmore, Lakemba, Wiley Park, Punchbowl and Bankstown — closed in September 2024 for the rebuild. The Guardian reports that tens of thousands of people live along the corridor, which will now carry up to 17,000 passengers in peak hours.
Travel times have shifted. Bankstown to Central now takes 28 minutes, six minutes less than under the old heavy rail service. Longer trips gain more: Lakemba to Victoria Cross will take 37 minutes, a saving of 24 minutes, according to The Guardian.
The project's timeline slipped well beyond early estimates. The Guardian notes the connection to the city metro, which opened in August 2024, was expected to take about 12 months when planned, while the former Coalition government, which announced the project in 2014, forecast three to six years.
A 4.31am departure and a platform full of enthusiasts
The first train drew hundreds of rail enthusiasts alongside a smaller number of ordinary commuters. The Guardian described a crowd dressed in metro-branded T-shirts, badges, caps, earrings and sequined jackets, with handmade signs reading "We love public transport" and "First to Ride SW Metro 30.10.26". One passenger waved a passport, announcing a shared birthday with the extension.
Cheers went up as the train pulled in, as its doors cycled open and shut, and again as it left Bankstown on time with standing room only. One couple kissed. A standard six-car metro set holds 1,100 people, and The Guardian reports the carriages were packed as the train ran through Punchbowl, Wiley Park and Lakemba at speeds of up to 100km/h. Some passengers got off early, worried about fainting in the crush, while a few families squeezed aboard.
Among those on board were Angus Higginbotham, 14, and his father Tim, who had missed the 2024 city extension opening because of an 8am school start. Angus, who hopes to become a Sydney trains driver, told The Guardian he had persuaded his father to attend "this awesome day actually". Isaiah Daylight, 8, travelled with his mother Jen, who said the family lives near Belmore station and had depended on the pink replacement buses. "I'm so happy to see the back of them," she told The Guardian. The pair were up at 3am; Isaiah planned a nap before school.
One man, Lee Warren, ran the full length of the line overnight from Tallawong to reach Bankstown in time for the first departure, according to The Guardian.
Ridership, reaction and the buses that remain
Abdullah Balkhi, 19, who lives in the north-west and previously spoke to Guardian Australia when he rode the last Blue Mountains V-set service in January, said the metro would draw more people to the south-west, Bankstown included. He cited the area's food and said he would visit after university. Balkhi added that friends along the line had complained "endlessly" about the pink buses and that he was pleased they now had more dependable and frequent services.
Replacement buses were still pulling in and out of Sydenham empty early on Friday. The Guardian reports they will keep running through the metro's opening weekend while communities adjust to the change.
The opening drew wide coverage, with the Sydney Morning Herald running live updates on the final stage of what it described as a mega rail project, ABC News reporting on metro services reaching stations with 130 years of history, and News.com.au putting the line's cost at $25bn. The Australian Financial Review reported that housing growth is expected to follow around the new stations.
What to watch: whether the replacement buses are withdrawn on schedule after the opening weekend, and how patronage builds along the corridor once the novelty of the first rides fades.
