The first full line test run has been completed on the M1 Metro North West & Bankstown Line, as a metro train completes and end-to-end journey from Tallawong to Bankstown.
The train in testing stopped at all 31 stations over the 66-kilometre route hitting speeds of 100km/h on the new section of the track
When the line opens later this year, a metro train will run every four minutes in the peak, with 15 metro trains an hour compared to eight trains an hour on the former heavy rail T3 Bankstown line, nearly doubling the services connecting South-West Sydney to rest of the city.
Part of the NSW Government’s record $30 billion a year infrastructure investment, the extended line will transform the connection to the rest of the city for communities in Sydney’s southwest and deliver more opportunities in education, employment and leisure.
Passengers at Bankstown will get to Gadigal Station in 30 minutes, saving a full 15 minutes compared to the 45 minutes it took to get to Town Hall on the former heavy rail line.
Passengers across Sydney’s Southwest will benefit, with time savings that include:
- Marrickville to Gadigal: 12 minutes – saving 12 minutes
- Bankstown to Central: 28 minutes – saving six minutes
- Campsie to Macquarie University: 44 minutes – saving 17 minutes
- Lakemba to Victoria Cross: 37 minutes – saving 24 minutes
The current high-speed testing phase requires a minimum 9,000 hours and 30,000 kms of combined testing to be completed before the line opens.
Across the Southwest line, 79 per cent of work in the corridor and at stations is now complete, with tiling largely completed at four stations and works progressing at the remaining six. Painting and landscaping are also underway at most stations.
Testing is well underway on the platform screen doors and mechanical gap fillers, with this world-leading safety technology already passing its first round of tests at every station.
The next step is integration testing with the test train later this year.
During this high-speed testing phase on the Southwest extension, more than 70 key integration tests will be completed to ensure individual systems work together and to verify the performance, functionality and safety of the trains and new infrastructure.
As part of the final conversion, crews will complete work to integrate the Southwest Metro with the existing metro line. This will require a series of full and partial line closures of the M1 Line in the lead up to opening.
While disruptive, these closures are essential to allow for work to safely take place within the rail corridor
In January Metro services will not run on the following weekends to allow for essential systems testing:
- 17–18 January
- 24–25 January
During closure periods, passengers will have access to replacement buses between Tallawong and Chatswood, and Sydney Trains services between Chatswood and Sydenham.
The NSW Government thanked the communities in Sydney’s southwest for their patience as the project progresses and passengers on the M1 Line metro who will be affected by some upcoming weekend closures for essential work to integrate the new line.
NSW Minister for Transport, John Graham, said the completion of the first full-length test journey on the line is an exciting day for all of Sydney.
“It is even more exciting for the people of Southwest Sydney who have been patiently waiting for their turn to join the metro network,” Graham said.
“With a service every four minutes, metro will transform this area’s connection to the rest of the city, providing many more opportunities in jobs and education.
