CBD travel time slashed as first Metro West services begin from Bankstown to the City
Hundreds of excited commuters have crammed into the first Metro service to travel from Bankstown to the city after the historic $25bn rail line finally opened.
Hundreds of commuters have made history travelling on the first service of Sydney’s fully completed Metro West line that departed from Bankstown at 4.31am on Friday.
The M2 train doors opened on the platforms at Bankstown Train Station at 4.30am on Friday morning, with bleary-eyed MPs, reporters, tradies, city workers and train enthusiasts all piling on board to get a first glimpse at Sydney’s newest piece of major public infrastructure.
Cheers erupted as it pulled out of Bankstown for the first time, then there were more cheers as new commuters got on at all stops to Central.
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Metro stations in Bankstown, Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Lakemba, Belmore, Campsie, Canterbury, Hurlstone Park, Dulwich Hill and Marrickville all opened simultaneously, granting passengers from throughout Sydney’s west quick and easy access to the CBD and Sydney’s northern suburbs.
Tom Tran, 22, a student nurse at the University of Sydney, hopped on the Metro at Bankstown and rode it all the way through to Central.
Mr Tran told NewsWire he woke up extra early just to be able to hop on the “historic” first Metro service into the city.
“They started developing the Metro when I started uni, and thankfully it’s finally up,” he said.
“I’m actually about to finish my degree but I’m still really excited to take the Metro into the city on the weekends.”
Mr Tran said before the Metro was installed he used to drive his car to Revesby and commute into the city in a journey which would often take him more than an hour.
“I’m excited to not have to drive to Revesby and park my car there anymore. It was a very long commute home,” he said.
“This is a historic ride, they’ll probably play this back in 50 years. I hope the Metro is here to stay, I’m really excited to be on the very first train.
“It’s awesome to have it here.”
NSW Transport Minister John Graham said the Metro was a service to the communities of southwestern Sydney.
“These were second class communities during Covid, now they’re getting a world class metro,” Mr Graham said.
“That really is a huge change for these communities that will make a big difference to their opportunities for generations to come... that’s generations of opportunity, generations of jobs, and generations of fast rail travel into the city.
“This will both open up the city to the south west, but it’s also going to open up the south west to the rest of Sydney.”
Until Friday morning, passengers had been forced to spend more than an hour via train and bus networks to reach Central station from Bankstown.
That commute has been slashed in half, with standard journey lengths of about 28 minutes between the Bankstown and Central Metro stations.
The road to completion for the southwest Metro has not always been seamless, and in 2023 a review took place after the budget for the project – slated in 2016 to cost about $12bn – suffered a significant blowout.
The current estimated cost for the Sydney Metro West project is about $25bn.
More to come.
Originally published as CBD travel time slashed as first Metro West services begin from Bankstown to the City
