Metro North West line


 * This page refers to stage 1 of Sydney Metro. For other uses of Metro see: Metro (disambiguation).

Metro North West Line is a railway line and service operated by Sydney Metro in Sydney, from Chatswood to Tallawong. It opened on 26 May 2019 and is the first operational rapid transit line in Australia.

The line runs between Chatswood and Tallawong, stopping at 13 stations in the Macquarie and Hills regions of Sydney. It will be extended in 2024 from Chatswood to Bankstown as part of Sydney Metro City & Southwest.

In preparation for the opening of the line, there was a timetable change on the Sydney Trains network on 28 April 2019. The timetable saw the existing Sydney Trains T1 Northern Line renumbered as the T9 Northern Line.

The line is serviced by 6-carriage driverless single-deck Alstom Metropolis sets.

The Metro North West Line is indicated by the icon on the Sydney Trains network map and at stations.



History
Planning for Sydney Metro Northwest, previously known as the North West Rail Link was a long and complicated affair. The was originally announced, then cancelled several times in the 1990's. The route was also changed several times, but it was always broadly the same. There were also differing plans as to how the line would integrate into the rest of the network.

Proposals for the line by the NSW Government over the years included: Eventually, the ECRL option was chosen, with the variation of building it as a metro line instead of a heavy rail line and building a new line from Chatswood into the City. This was because the North Shore line was already nearing (and has now reached) its maximum capacity of 20 trains per hour.
 * connecting at Beecroft onto the Main North line with City services running via Rhodes
 * connecting to the Epping-Chatswood Rail Link (ECRL) at Epping
 * building a new line into the City via the Inner West

By June 2015, media releases from Transport for NSW dubbed the line as the "North West Rail Link" to address the line from Rouse Hill to Chatswood. On 4th June 2015, the then Premier of New South Wales, Mike Baird, and Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance announced the line's renaming from Sydney Rapid Transit to the current name of Sydney Metro. In conjunction with the renaming, the North West Rail Link was subsequently rebranded as Sydney Metro Northwest. It was also around this time that the government began planning the next stage of Sydney Metro, which would continue past Chatswood into the City and then on to Bankstown.

The ECRL line from Epping to Chatswood ceased operation of existing Sydney Trains services on 30th September 2018, after the final service run by Tangara T sets T53 and T74. Until the opening of Sydney Metro Northwest, passengers from Chatswood, North Ryde, Macquarie Park, Macquarie University and Epping were being serviced by Station Link, a feeder bus service jointly operated by Transdev and Hillsbus. On 28th April 2019, in order to accommodate the opening of Sydney Metro Northwest, new timetables for the Western Line were introduced, renumbering of the Northern Line to T9, extra North Shore Line services to be on par with Metro service frequency, and alterations to some Metrobus bus routes to drop the M prefix from route numbers to avoid confusion with the Metro’s own “M” designation.

The tunnels of the North West Line were dug by four tunnel boring machines. The tunnels from Epping to Cherrybrook were dug by TBMs "Marie" (named after Marie Lock, a 19th century Aboriginal rights advocate) and "Isabelle" (named after Isabelle Andersen, a four-year-old girl who represented the families of the tunnel workers). The tunnels from Cherrybrook to Bella Vista (consisting of Castle Hill, Hills Showground and Norwest underground stations) were dug by the other two TBMs, "Elizabeth" (named after colonial pioneer Elizabeth Rouse) and "Florence" (named after Florence Taylor, Australia's first female architect).

The first of Sydney Metro's driverless Alstom Metropolis sets completed their full run from Tallawong to Chatswood on 14th January 2019.

A week out from the line’s opening, The Daily Telegraph held a competition where the winners were given a chance to ride on the Sydney Metro for the first time, on a non-stop ride from Chatswood to Tallawong. Another preview ride was offered to the descended family of Sir John Bradfield.

On the first day of service, services on the Metro North West Line were being run for free. It has now been reported that the line has now serviced as many as over 1 million passengers and an average of 72,000 passengers serviced every day within the first two weeks of operation, with both Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Transport Andrew Constance declaring Sydney Metro as a huge initial success. The line has mostly been a huge hit with many residents of the Hills District, which covers a majority of the 8 new stations, most of whom had to rely entirely on buses prior to the Metro North West Line’s opening.

Despite being a hit with the Hills District residents, tourists, other Sydney commuters and train enthusiasts, the line has not been without issues. Within the first few days of service, the Metropolis sets have suffered from overshooting platforms, doors failing to open, families and groups getting separated by closing doors, mechanical failures, and one passenger accidentally getting carried away to the stabling yard west of Tallawong station.

Route
The line starts at Chatwood, on a viaduct shared with Sydney Trains services. It then descends into the former Epping to Chatswood rail link (ECRL). It is an extremely long and steep descent (1:36 or 2.8%) after Chatswood as the line descends underneath the Lane Cove River. The line was originally meant to cross the Lane Cove River by a bridge, however the local residents strongly opposed this, so the design was switched to an extremely long curved tunnel. It then passes through three former ECRL stations, which were converted for metro operation.

After Epping, the line passes the tunnels that were used by Sydney Trains services to rejoin the Main North line. One of these tunnels has now had its tracks lifted, while the other was left for trackwork train access. Past here, the line continues into the purpose built metro tunnels. These tunnels are lower as they were built for single deck trains, unlike the ECRL. The line ascends back to the surface to stop at Cherrybrook station, before dropping back underground for the next few stations. At Bella Vista, the line emerges at the surface again, before climbing onto a viaduct along Old Windsor Road. At Rouse Hill, the line crosses Old Windsor Road using an impressive suspension bridge before reaching the terminus station of Tallawong. The tracks continue for a short distance to Tallawong Stabling Yard.

The twin tunnels running from Epping to Bella Vista are currently the longest rail tunnels in Sydney, as well as the deepest, being placed 67m below street level. These tunnels are much deeper than the floor of Sydney Harbour, as well as the City Circle tunnels at St James station.

The new stations on the Metro Northwest route have 3,000 parking spaces across multiple carparks. Kiss and ride spaces, and bicycle parking spots are also be provided near the stations. All stations on the Sydney Metro network are wheelchair accessible, with lifts available at every station. This makes Metro North West the first line on the expanded Sydney rail network to have wheelchair accessibility at every station.

Infrastructure
Track: The line is fully double track, with crossovers at Tallawong, Bella Vista, Castle Hill, Epping, Macquarie Park, Lady Game Drive and Chatswood (both sides of station). It uses standard (1435mm) gauge track.

Power Transmission: The line is fully electrified at 1500V DC. Overhead wires are used for transmission for the Chatswood - Epping and Bella Vista - Tallawong sections, while bus bars are used between Epping and Bella Vista.

Signalling: The line uses communication based train control (CBTC), specifically the Alstom Urbalis 400 system, which is used by many other metro systems worldwide. The control centre at Tallawong is connected to each train via lineside 5.8GHz WiFi transmitters. This WiFi network is further subdivided into two channels, one for signalling information with higher redundancy and the other for CCTV, PA and emergency help points on the train. There are also systems to detect trespassers on the track.

Platform Screen Doors: Each platform on the line is fitted with platform screen doors. They reach to the ceiling at Castle Hill, Hills Showground and Norwest stations and to head height at other stations.

Service
Services on the Metro North West Line are scheduled to run every 4 minutes during the peak, and every 10 minutes outside of the peak. The Metro North West Line is jointly operated by MTR Corporation, John Holland and UGL Rail. Opal is accepted at all stations, using the same fare table as trains.

In the first six months of operations, the metro service did not run after 9:30pm on Sunday to Wednesday nights, to allow for final checks on the line. Two bus routes, known as the North West Night Bus, replaced services at these times. NW1 stopped at all stations, while NW2 skipped Epping, Macquarie Uni and Macquarie Park. Both routes ran every 10 minutes and charged train fares. The bus service was withdrawn on 5th November 2019. The bus service was jointly operated by Transdev NSW and Hillsbus, both of whom previously jointly operated the Station Link services from Epping to Chatswood between September 2018 and May 2019.

Similar to Sydney Trains, trackwork occasionally closes the line over weekends or on late nights. Replacement bus routes are the same as the North West Night Bus, except that they are numbered 11M and 12M respectively. There are also sometimes partial line closures (e.g. Epping-Chatswood, Epping-Tallawong). Single line working between Bella Vista and Tallawong is also possible.

Trivia

 * During the construction process and on Sydney Trains network maps before it was renamed, Tallawong station was referred to as "Cudgegong Road", due to the station's location near Cudgegong Road at Rouse Hill. Tallawong's name comes from Tallawong Road, which is also near the station. This is also shown with Tallawong having CUD as the station code, likely as a nod to the old name. Another possibility for the renaming of the station is due to Tallawong Road being the location of the Metro stabling yards and control centre, as the hub of the Sydney Metro network.
 * The leaf-shaped structures holding up the giant glass canopies placed above Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Hills Showground, Norwest, Bella Vista and Tallawong stations are based on bluegum leaves. Bella Vista also has a second canopy.

Station Guides (PDF)

 * Tallawong
 * Rouse Hill
 * Kellyville
 * Bella Vista
 * Norwest
 * Hills Showground
 * Castle Hill
 * Cherrybrook
 * Epping
 * Macquarie University
 * Macquarie Park
 * North Ryde
 * Chatswood