Australia’s first driverless metro train has passed its first full test, travelling along the entire length of Sydney’s $8.3 billion Metro Northwest railway line.
The train arrived at Chatswood Station’s Metro platforms, having travelled 36km from the new Tallawong Station in Sydney’s northwest as part of the intensive testing process.
NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, was in Chatswood to welcome the significant milestone.
“Today’s milestone shows Australia’s first Metro, the Northwest rail line, is around the corner,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“When this line opens, there will be turn-up-and-go services every four minutes – massively improving the experience for residents throughout Sydney’s northwest.”
NSW Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Andrew Constance, said it is an exciting time for Sydney.
“This project is almost ready. We’re finishing stations, car parks and testing trains to get the Northwest rail line open as quickly as possible, on time and at least $500 million under budget,” Mr Constance said.
Over the past three months, major upgrade work inside the existing railway tunnels between Epping and Chatswood has been underway to allow this major Metro milestone to occur.
Platform screen doors have now been installed at all Sydney Metro platforms, including between Epping and Chatswood.
“These platform screen doors are a major customer safety feature of all Sydney Metro stations,” Mr Constance said.
“They keep people and objects like prams away from the tracks, creating a physical barrier at the edge of the platform which also allows trains to get in and out of stations much faster.”
The platform doors only open and close at the same time as the train doors and are a key safety and technology feature of Sydney Metro.
About 19,000km of train testing has taken place so far on the Sydney Metro system, with 17 of the fleet of 22 trains delivered.
Onboard train systems will be tested over the coming months as well as signalling, braking and acceleration at different speeds in the tunnel.
Metro rail is currently being extended from Chatswood to Bankstown, with services expected to start in 2024 – when Sydney will have 31 metro stations and a 66km standalone metro railway with trains running every four minutes in the peak in each direction.
