Sydney Prepares For August Opening Of Autonomous High-Speed Metro

Sydney is all set to welcome its new autonomous metro trains in August, which will reportedly carry passengers through a new harbor tunnel at about 100 km/h.

In anticipation of final regulatory approval, the Minns administration announced Monday that the full-service timetable testing has begun on the nine-station city portion that connects Chatswood to Sydenham via the central business district (CBD).

The nine-station section from Chatswood through Sydney's CBD to Sydenham, subject to regulatory permission, is set to open on a weekend in August and will carry about 40,000 passengers in an hour, representing a significant milestone in the city's public transit growth, reported The Guardian.

The work on the metro line, which will run from Bankstown to Sydenham, will lead to the closure of T3 line for a year, due to which passengers will have to take buses to Sydenham to get to the metro station.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said this shutdown won't happen until the new city portion proves to be dependable.

Premier Chris Minns compared the astonishing pace of the metro to that of air travel. In his remarks, he underlined how crucial public transportation was to Sydney's future urban design.

Around several rail and metro stations, the government has quickly started rezoning to meet the substantial increase in housing demand.

"We're preparing for population growth, for a city where people live closer to the CBD and a more integrated city," Minns said, per Canberra Times. "For a long time, governments of different political persuasions have thought about public transport as an afterthought and housing as a primary source of economic drivers ... what we're trying to do is merge the two things."

To assure dependability and safety, Sydney's new metro line has completed 9,800 of the 11,000 needed testing hours since April 2023. These tests simulate crises and include 1,000 volunteers. The system's dedication to passenger safety and efficiency was demonstrated by these tests, which included synchronized emergency responses, evacuations, and tunnel stoppages, The Guardian reported.

Minns was excited by the speeds of the new metro, especially beneath the harbor, where trains were tested at 100 km/h. "We were in the air," he claimed. "You can go from North Sydney to the center of the city in about three minutes because it's quick and safe."

He added that more housing will be possible in the established suburbs thanks to the planned metro stations.