On 7 July 2024, The Minister for Transport, Jo Haylen, announced the target opening date for the Sydney Metro City was 4 August 2024. This date was subject to final testing and regulatory approvals.
On 26 July 2024, the Minister released a statement about the safety fences coming down around the Barangaroo station.
She noted:
“Barangaroo’s newest precinct around the new Barangaroo Metro Station will open to the public on Monday 29 July, ahead of the new M1 Line launching in August.
The target opening date for Barangaroo Station and Sydney Metro is August 4, subject to approval by the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator, successful completion of trial running exercises and system performance tests.”
Premier Chris Minns yesterday insisted the opening was on track but acknowledged that not all the paperwork had been signed off.
Fast-forward to today (30 July 2024), and the Transport Minister has advised that the Chatswood Metro Line will not open on 4 August 2024 as the national rail regulator has not given it the green light. A new opening date has not been nominated.
Code Red
On 11 July 2024, the Fire Brigade Employees Union issued a Code Red, which stated:
“Effective immediately, all activities related to the Sydney Metro rail network are banned, including all familiarisation and drill exercise and the development of pre-incident plans (PIP). This instruction remains in place and must be followed until lifted by the State Secretary.”
Members were given an update on 19 July 2024, which cast doubt on the 4 August 2024 opening date.
The update included the following:
“This week the FBEU met with the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR), FRNSW, Minister Dib, and the office of the Transport Minister. We have stated, in no uncertain terms, that these circumstances are unacceptable and pose a significant risk to FBEU members and the commuting public alike.
It remains the view of the FBEU that the State Government’s 4 August deadline, for the commencement of revenue service in the newest section of the metro, is untenable. Further discussions are occurring with FRNSW but for now the Code Red remains in place.”
On 26 July 2024, members were advised of the following:
“Since Code Red instructions were issued on 11.7.24, the FBEU have met with the Minister for Transport and the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) to discuss outstanding safety concerns with emergency management arrangements for the Metro rail network. The FBEU have worked with FRNSW on four robust cross-agency exercises to be conducted on Metro lines next week. The Code Red has been lifted to allow these exercises to be undertaken. However, should we remain concerned about the rail operator’s ability to facilitate appropriate arrangements further action will be taken.”
Office of National Safety Regulator
A new opening date has not been nominated as the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR), located in South Australia, must finish its assessment.
A spokesperson for the ONRSR told ITC:
“As the Minister indicated earlier today, the ONRSR team is focused on assessing the evidence, as it arrives, to support the operational safety case for the new Metro City line.
The assessment verifies that all risks to safety have been identified and that the appropriate systems and processes are in place to manage them.
Once this due diligence has been completed, the application for accreditation for the new line can be finalised and granted.”
Bus Timetable Changes to Go Ahead on 4th or 5th August 2024
In The Cove understands that the planned bus changes that were to be implemented on the same day as the Chatswood Line was to open will still go ahead. ITC noticed that the new bus timetables had a start date of 5 August 2024, and then the date was removed, only to be reinstated to 5 August 2024.
A source told us that Busways drivers have been told that the new timetable will start on 4th August (this is different from the online route information).
Transport for NSW told ITC the following:
A Transport for NSW Spokesperson told ITC:
“Transport for NSW (Transport) has introduced changes to some bus services in Sydney’s North West and North Shore, to improve connectivity to Sydney Metro and the broader public transport network.
While the new Sydney Metro from Chatswood to Sydenham will open soon, these bus changes will commence from Sunday 4 August as planned across Greater Western Sydney, The Hills and North Shore and Northern Suburbs.
In the period before Metro opens, bus passengers can connect to Metro stations between Tallawong and Chatswood and also to Chatswood, St Leonards and North Sydney train stations.
Transport is working closely with bus operators to ensure passengers can get used to their new journey and get to where they need to go while Sydney Metro completes necessary final safety assurance checks.
Extra bus services will operate from the North West and North Shore in the interim, there’ll also be bus marshals at key transport hubs to help passengers complete their journeys.
Sydney Metro is running an additional four safety exercises with emergency services before the independent assurance process is complete.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause our passengers, but encourage passengers to jump online at transport.nsw.gov.au/buschanges and plan their new trip on transportnsw.info.
Note the timetables still notes timetable changes from 5 August 2024
Bus Timetable Changes
Click this link to find out the changes to your local bus.
A summary of the changes is here.
This city section of what will be known as the M1 Northwest & Bankstown Line includes an additional 15.5 kilometres, which extends the North West line from Chatswood, below the harbour and through the Sydney CBD, to Sydenham.
