Sydney Metro City & Southwest

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

The Sydney Metro City & Southwest is a metro line that will run from Chatswood to Bankstown via Sydney CBD. Upon its completion in 2024, it is the second operational rapid transit line in Australia. Construction began in 2016 as work on the North West Line was nearing completion.

Much like the North West Line, it is controlled by Northwest Rapid Transit, owned by MTR Corporation (Hong Kong). Northwest Rapid Transit will be responsible for service operation and station design and layout.

Construction[]

The line is a continuation of the North West Line between Chatswood and Tallawong. It extends south from the turnbacks at Chatswood, sharing the Sydney Trains corridor for a short distance before diving underground into twin tunnels toward Sydney Harbour. This section was dug by two tunnel boring machines (TBMs), named "Wendy" (named after Bear Cottage volunteer Wendy Schreiber) and "Mabel" (named after Mabel Newill, an Australian war nurse during World War I). The TBMs were launched at Chatswood and retrieved from Blues Point on the foreshore. There are two stations in this section: Crows Nest and Victoria Cross (near the existing North Sydney station).

The line then crosses Sydney Harbour, staying underground. A special TBM, "Kathleen", dug this section, due to the different geological conditions under the harbour. It was launched from Barangaroo, retrieved from Blues Points and then transported back to Barangaroo to dig the second tunnel in the same way.

The line then continues underground across the Sydney CBD and through the inner city to the Marrickville Dive Site (near Sydenham station). There are stations at Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt Street, Central and Waterloo. This section will be dug by two TBMs, named "Nancy" (named after Nancy Bird Walton, Australia's first female pioneer aviator) and "Mum Shirl" (named after Colleen Shirley "Mum Shirl" Perry, known for her contributions to legal, medical, housing and cultural services towards the Aboriginal Australian community). These TBMs were launched from the Marrickville Dive Site and retrieved at Barangaroo.

The line emerges above ground at the Marrickville Dive Site. A train maintenance facility was be built here. The line then continues onto Sydney Trains' T3 Bankstown Line to Bankstown. Similar to how it was done for the Northwest line, all stations on this line will be converted to metro stations. All platforms along the line will straightened and fitted with platform screen doors. Most concourses will also be rebuilt to provide wheelchair access. The track and overhead wires will mostly remain intact, except for around stations (to allow platform straightening) and where power supply upgrades are needed to allow for the higher current draw of the metro trains.

Progress[]

Planning documentation was submitted for the Chatswood-Sydenham section in November 2015 and it was approved in January 2017. The Sydenham-Bankstown section was approved in December 2018.

The two TBMs for the northern section started tunnelling in early 2019 and finished in late 2019. The two TBMs for the southern section started tunnelling in late 2018 and finished in late 2019.^[1] The harbour TBM finished tunnelling in March 2020.^[2]

Lineside work between Sydenham & Bankstown was started in 2019. This involved installation of conduits for metro signalling equipment, substations and a new underground cable connecting to Canterbury subtransmission substation (which supplies power to most of the region).

Effects on other lines during construction[]

From 2019 to 2023, there will be line closures to allow for preliminary works over holiday periods when less people are travelling. The shutdowns are as follows:

Period	Closed section	Replacement Services	Work Completed
2019 Christmas + New Year [1]	1st week: Campsie-Central, Hurstville-Central 2nd week: Campsie-Sydenham	Trains: Campsie-Lidcombe-City Circle, Liverpool-Lidcombe-City Circle Buses: Punchbowl-Central, Hurstville-Central	Demolish Sydenham platforms 1-2 Connect Bankstown line to platforms 3-4
2020 Christmas + New Year	[Same as 2019]	[Same as 2019]	Sydenham concourse works
2021 July school holidays	Bankstown-Sydenham	Buses: Punchbowl-Belmore -T8 stations (weekday only) Campie/Canterbury-Central Bankstown-Sydenham Trains: Revesby-City Circle (weekday only)	New crossovers at Campsie. Replace platform edge at all stations between Marrickville and Punchbowl
2021 Christmas + New Year	26-28 Dec: Birrong-Central & Sydenham-Central on the T4 Illawarra Line 29 Dec-9 Jan: Birrong-Sydenham	26-28 Dec: Lidcombe-Bankstown, Bankstown-Central 29 Dec-9 Jan: Lidcombe-Bankstown, Bankstown-Sydenham, Sydenham-Bondi Jn/City Circle (train)	New crossovers at Erskineville (make stops at the T8 and T4 Lines) Remove eastern crossover at Bankstown (to allow for new platforms) Make way near Sydenham (to build Waterloo station)
2022 July school holidays	Lidcombe-Sydenham	Buses: Bankstown-Sydenham (all stops + express) Campsie-Sydenham (express) Bankstown-Lidcombe (all stops + express) Trains: Liverpool-Lidcombe-City Circle	[Unknown]
2022 September school holidays	Lidcombe-Sydenham	TBC (Likely same as previous closure)	[Unknown]

There was another longer closure in 2023-2024, which occurred when the Chatswood-Sydenham section was close to completion or completed. The majority of the work on the T3 Bankstown line will be done during this closure, including installation of gap fillers, platform screen doors and concourse upgrades. It will reopen as a metro line at the end of this closure.

Effects on other lines after opening[]

Erskineville and St Peters (two stations currently serviced by the T3 Bankstown Line that are not receiving the Metro) will continue to be operated by Sydney Trains. The plan for these stations is unconfirmed, however it is likely that some T4 and/or T8 trains will be altered to stop at Erskineville & St Peters.

After the Metro commences service, it is expected that 9 stations west of Bankstown (Yagoona, Birrong, Sefton, Chester Hill, Leightonfield, Villawood, Carramar, Regents Park and Berala) will continue to be served by Sydney Trains services. TfNSW is currently seeking community feedback about how to serve each branch of the T3 Bankstown line. Their preferred plan is to have trains run Liverpool-Inner West Line-City Circle and Bankstown-Lidcombe. The previous plan was to replace these stations with a bus service.

As the metro has its own path into the City, it will free up slots for extra services on other lines. For example, an extra 10tph (trains per hour) of capacity will be freed up in the City Circle during the morning peak, meaning extra services can be added on the T2/T8 lines. It will also free up slots on the Illawara Local tracks, allowing for more T8 services via Sydenham. This will be done in conjunction with the More Trains, More Services program to increase capacity on other parts of the T8 line.

Operation[]

Much like the Sydney Metro Northwest line, the Metro City & Southwest line is serviced by 6-carriage, single-deck, driverless Alstom Metropolis sets. The City & Southwest line is operated by Northwest Rapid Transit, who already run the existing Northwest section.

The line is electrified at 1500V DC and the track gauge will be standard (1435mm). It will be fitted with communications based train control (CBTC), the same system as on the Northwest line, that allows for driverless operation.

Stations[]

Name	Code	Distance from Central	Opened	Railway Line	Serving Suburbs	Interchange for
Chatswood to Bankstown (Services continue from Tallawong)
Crows Nest	???	Unknown	2024	Unknown	Crows Nest, St Leonards
Victoria Cross	???	Unknown	2024	Unknown	North Sydney
Barangaroo	???	Unknown	2024	Unknown	Barangaroo, Walsh Bay
Martin Place	MPL	2.10km	1979	Unknown	Sydney CBD
Gadigal	???	Unknown	2024	Unknown	Sydney CBD
Central	CEN	0.00km	1855	Unknown	Ultimo, Haymarket, Chippendale, Surry Hills	L1 Dulwich Hill Line L2 CBD and Southeast Line
Waterloo	???	Unknown	2024	Unknown	Waterloo, Alexandria, Redfern
Sydenham	SDN	5.30km	1884	Bankstown	Sydenham, Marrickville
Marrickville	MKV	6.60km	1885	Bankstown	Marrickville
Dulwich Hill	DLH	7.90km	1895	Bankstown	Dulwich Hill	L1 Dulwich Hill Line
Hurlstone Park	HUR	8.80km	1895	Bankstown	Hurlstone Park
Canterbury	CBY	10.20km	1895	Bankstown	Canterbury
Campsie	CMP	11.70km	1895	Bankstown	Campsie
Belmore	BME	13.30km	1895	Bankstown	Belmore
Lakemba	LAK	14.50km	1909	Bankstown	Lakemba
Wiley Park	WIL	15.40km	1938	Bankstown	Lakemba, Wiley Park, Punchbowl
Punchbowl	PUN	16.50km	1909	Bankstown	Punchbowl
Bankstown	BNK	18.70km	1909	Bankstown	Bankstown

Trivia[]

This will be the second Sydney Metro line to involve an existing Sydney Trains line getting converted to rapid-transit format.
Stations from Marrickville to Bankstown will have a mechanical gap filter that extends the platform to the train and testing is already well underway. It will extend first before the doors open, making it safer for objects like prams and wheelchairs to cross. It took a year-long testing on weather conditions before it was finally approved in 2023.
Sydney University was originally considered to host the Metro station between Central and Sydenham, and even released their own video promoting what the station would look like, until the slot was ultimately handed to Waterloo in December 2015.
This line was originally also planned to extend to Hurstville, and would have involved metro rapid-transit conversion of the T4 Illawarra Line from Sydenham to Hurstville (Sydenham, Tempe, Wolli Creek, Arncliffe, Banksia, Rockdale, Kogarah, Carlton, Allawah and Hurstville), but this plan was ultimately scrapped due to platform conditions unfeasible for straightening and issues with freight trains required to use the T4 Illawarra Line as an alternate southbound route if the Main South line is closed for track-work.

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]

[1] ttps://www.sydneymetro.info/article/farewell-our-mega-borer-friends

[2] ttps://www.sydneymetro.info/article/history-made-metro-tunnelling-complete-under-sydney-harbour

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