Australia’s first driverless passenger rail service is just days away from opening, with a free day planned and thousands of visitors expected to ride the Sydney Metro Northwest on May 26.
Sydney’s new rail line will begin revenue service just after 11am on Sunday. Gates will be open for free travel all the way through until the last trains, which will leave Chatswood at 10.05pm and Tallawong at 9.35pm.
The opening will mean the debut of 13 new and upgraded platforms across 36 kilometres of metro railway, and a fleet of 22 new six-car, fully automated metro trains.
The Alstom Metraopolis trainsets include three double-doors per car on each side for improved passenger flows, large windows and ambient LED lighting. The manufacturer says they have been designed with the highest levels of customer safety in mind, with constant CCTV monitoring, emergency intercoms and the latest wayfinding aids for customer information and real-time travel information.
The trains are directed through Alstom’s Urbalis 400 Computer Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling system, adapted for the specific needs of the Sydney Metro project.
The technology was all delivered by Alstom under the project’s $3.7 billion OTS contract. Separately, Alstom will also maintain the system for 15 years, using predictive maintenance tools to monitor the network’s catenary, track and trains, while also detecting rail faults and monitoring points machines along the network.
As the Northwest portion of Sydney Metro opens between the northwest suburbs and Chatswood, construction for the Sydney Metro program’s next stage is well underway.
Sydney Metro City & Southwest will continue the new line on through northern Sydney, under the Sydney Harbour, through the CBD and beyond to Bankstown, in the southwest.