Reduced closures, heritage retained in metro upgrade of Bankstown line

The heritage character of stations along the 122-year-old T3 Bankstown Line will also be retained following community feedback for the Sydenham to Bankstown section of Sydney Metro.

Customers in Sydney’s south west can expect world class Sydney Metro service with more trains, faster travel times and easier access to stations. Now, disruptions will be further minimised during construction and more heritage buildings will be retained.

Upgrading the T3 Bankstown Line to Sydney Metro standards is vital to the future of Sydney’s transport network – it will boost capacity and provide a more reliable journey for customers.

The Sydney Metro upgrade of the Bankstown Line means:

• Train services will be more than tripled at stations like Hurlstone Park, Canterbury and Wiley Park, which currently get as few as four trains an hour in the peak;
• A new concourse will connect Metro to Light Rail at Dulwich Hill;
• Lifts for the first time at Dulwich Hill, Hurlstone Park, Canterbury, Wiley Park and Punchbowl stations;
• All upgraded stations will be fully accessible with level access between the train and the platform, removing the step up into the train;
• Heritage buildings such as ticket offices and platform buildings will be retained and refreshed or renovated where appropriate, retaining the rich history of the Bankstown Line;
• There will be reduced closures of the line during upgrade work, reducing impacts to commuters.

A proposed six-week annual closure of the line will not go ahead, instead a program of closures is being refined to minimise impacts as much as possible for customers. Sydney Metro is also investigating short individual station closures to deliver benefits such new lifts, level platforms and building upgrades sooner and also reduce construction times and impacts.

As outlined last year, to complete the Sydenham to Bankstown upgrade a closure of between three to six months will be required to do work that can only be done once Sydney Trains have stopped operating on the line. This closure will be just before metro services start in 2024.

Transport for NSW is working on temporary transport plans to help customers get where they need to go during these times.

Following further work on how the upgrade will be delivered, the impacts to surrounding roads and road bridges will also be reduced while about 400 trees around stations will not be affected by construction works. Existing infrastructure like overhead wiring and tracks will also be reused where practicable.

When Sydney Metro services start in 2024, there will be 15 trains an hour at all stations during the peak – a major boost to train services for customers.

Currently on the Bankstown Line, stations like Hurlstone Park and Canterbury get as few as four trains an hour in the peak.

The T3 Bankstown Line creates a significant bottleneck as it merges with other railway lines close to the Sydney CBD, including the T8 Airport and South Line and the Inner West and Leppington Line.

Moving Bankstown Line services to the new standalone metro system removes this bottleneck, providing capacity for more trains to run on the existing network across Sydney.

After the Environmental Impact Statement was put on public exhibition last year, 553 submissions were received from the community and businesses and 10 from local councils and government departments.

During the exhibition period, 316 people attended eight community information sessions. Transport for NSW will continue to work with the community at every stage of the project.

The community will have the opportunity to provide further feedback as the planning process continues later this year.

You can access the Summary booklet that illustrates the key changes outlined in the Submissions and Preferred Infrastructure Report.