Sydney Metro West


 * Not to be confused with: Sydney Metro Greater West.
 * For other uses of Metro see: Metro (disambiguation).

The Sydney Metro West is an upcoming rail-line that will run from Westmead to the Sydney CBD (Hunter St). Upon its scheduled completion in 2030, it will become the third operational rapid transit line in Australia. Construction began in 2020.

History
The line was first mentioned in a discussion paper released in September 2016 that investigated new rail projects to service Western Sydney and the proposed Western Sydney Airport. Media reports indicated the project had found favour with Transport for NSW and the New South Wales Government.

The line was announced by the Baird government as an official project on 14 November 2016. Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, the Bays Precinct and the Sydney CBD were announced as initial station locations, with up to 12 stations being considered. The preferred alignment was scheduled to be announced in late 2018, while the line is expected to open in the second half of the 2020s. The government will use a value capture scheme to help pay for the project. The contributions from value capture are expected to amount to between 10 and 15 percent of the capital cost. Construction was originally planned to begin by 2022.

During the state election campaign in March 2019, the Liberal/National coalition government announced a funding of $6.4 billion to the project and commitment to start construction earlier in 2020, if re-elected. The Labor opposition also announced its commitment to fund the project if it won the election, at the expense of cancelling other announced transport and road projects such as the Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link. The Berejiklian Government was subsequently re-elected in the election that month. In June 2019, the 2019-2020 New South Wales state budget reaffirmed the government's commitment and funding of $6.4 billion over four years to the project, with construction to be fast-tracked to start in 2020.

In October 2019, the locations of seven stations (Westmead-The Bays) were announced and confirmed. At the time, Rydalmere and Pyrmont were not yet confirmed and the location of the City station was yet to be decided. The Environmental Impact Statement, which includes detailed information about the project, was released on 30th April 2020. At this time, Rydalmere was deleted and Pyrmont was confirmed. Finally, Hunter St was confirmed as the City station on 12 May 2021.

Initial work started in 2020, with tunnelling to begin in 2022. The line is expected to open to public by 2030.

Description
The Metro West line will run from Hunter St in the Sydney CBD to Westmead via a new, underground line, designed to specifically take pressure off the existing Sydney Trains T1 Western Line. Much like all other lines on the Sydney Metro network, it will exclusively operate single deck, driverless Alstom Metropolis sets.

Twin 21km long tunnels will be dug with tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for the line. Four TBMs will be used, with two starting at Westmead and two starting at The Bays. All four will be retrieved at Olympic Park. In addition to the seven stations, there will also be services facilities at Silverwater and Rosehill and an above ground stabling facility at Clyde (constructed over a section of the former Carlingford Line).



Stations
The line will consist of nine new stations (including two upgraded stations):
 * Westmead (interchange with and Parramatta Light Rail)
 * Parramatta (interchange with and Parramatta Light Rail)
 * Olympic Park (interchange with )
 * North Strathfield (interchange with )
 * Burwood North
 * Five Dock
 * The Bays
 * Pyrmont
 * Hunter Street (near Wynyard and Martin Place stations)