Project overview

Chatswood to Sydenham

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the tunnels between Chatswood to Sydenham was exhibited in May and June 2016. Over 300 submissions were received and responded to in the Submissions and Preferred Project Report submitted to the Department of Planning and Environment in October.

Project approval was received on 10 January, 2017 with early works now underway.

The first of five tunnel boring machines will be in the ground before the end of 2018 to deliver new 15.5-kilometre twin railway tunnels between the end of Sydney Metro Northwest at Chatswood and Sydenham.

New stations will be delivered at Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt Street and Waterloo along with new underground platforms at Central Station.

Sydenham to Bankstown

The planning approvals process for the upgrade and conversion of the T3 Bankstown Line to metro standards has started, with the lodgement of a State Significant Infrastructure Application Report to the Department of Environment and Planning.

Technical and environmental studies are currently underway and will form part of an Environmental Impact Statement, which is expected to be placed on public exhibition in the middle of 2017. Subject to approval, work will start in early 2018.

This component of the Project includes the upgrade and conversion of the existing Bankstown Line to metro standards between Sydenham and Bankstown. Upgraded stations will be delivered at Sydenham, Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Hurlstone Park, Canterbury, Campsie, Belmore, Lakemba, Wiley Park, Punchbowl and Bankstown.

• 13.5-kilometre upgrade and conversion of the T3 Bankstown Line to metro standards
• Easy interchange between Sydney Metro and other forms of transport like Sydney Trains, light rail and buses
• All stations will be designed to be user friendly for pedestrians, cyclists and customers getting on and off buses and in and out  of taxis, and being dropped off and picked up in cars
• There will be some changes to station platforms, layouts and some  concourse locations to ensure the most efficient running of Sydney Metro trains for customers
• All stations will be fully accessible, including the installation of lifts and level access between the platform and the train
• All stations will have platform screen doors, which keep objects like prams away from the edge and allow trains to get in and out of stations much faster.

This upgrade will address one of Sydney’s biggest rail bottlenecks.

The T3 Bankstown Line effectively slows down the Sydney Trains network because of the way it merges with other railway lines closer to the city, including the T2 Airport, Inner West & South Line. The suburban trains currently operating on the T3 Bankstown Line could be allocated to other railway lines.

It is anticipated that through Sydney Metro, together with signalling and infrastructure upgrades across the existing network, we can increase the capacity of train services from about 120 per hour today, to up to 200 services beyond 2024.

That’s an increase of up to 60 per cent capacity across the network to meet demand for our growing city. This means the railway network across Sydney will have room for an extra 100,000 train customers an hour in the peak.

After the conversion, metro trains from Bankstown will run at least every four minutes in the peak, or 15 trains an hour.

The Sydney Metro network will be fully segregated from existing Sydney Trains railway tracks between Sydenham and Bankstown, improving the reliability of the new services on the line. Interchange between Sydney Metro and Sydney Trains at both locations will be upgraded, with improvements to station way-finding and signage.