Update on Sydney Metro’s Southwest conversion

But while our team of 800-plus workers are on site every day working to deliver this complex conversion, the significant extension will take longer than expected and is now scheduled for completion in 2026.

The complexity of this project has been compounded by significant industrial action, placing increasing pressure on the construction and testing programs.

Nevertheless, progress to deliver a gamechanging new metro service for Sydney’s southwest is powering ahead, with a series of milestones achieved in recent weeks that have seen the former T3 Bankstown line start to resemble a modern metro railway. 

An impressive 360 platform screen doors and 170 mechanical gap fillers have been fitted at stations from Marrickville to Bankstown.

While passengers may already be familiar with Sydney Metro’s safety screen doors, mechanical gap filler technology is an Australian-first and was designed specifically to address the gap created between the train and the curved platforms of the Bankstown line.  

These step-like devices are built to extend quickly from the platform to the train before the doors open to eliminate the gap and allow safe and easy access for all passengers.  

Sydney Metro delivery partners Hyundai Movex were responsible for installation of the mechanical gap fillers, while UGL installed the platform screen doors across the southwest stations. It took approximately 500 hours for 110 workers to fit out the stations with the new technology.  

Another significant milestone realised for the project has been the completion of the installation of 28.3 kilometres of high-tech railway fencing.

Two types of fencing have been installed over 24 months:   

• 5.8 kilometres of segregation fencing installed to separate the existing freight line and the adjacent metro corridor between Sydenham and Bankstown.  
• 22.5 kilometres of security fencing installed along the boundary of the Southwest metro rail corridor.  

The security fencing along the perimeter features a first-of-its-kind intrusion and object detection security system. The technology includes the use of fibre optic cables located on the fence to monitor for vibrations or breakage.  

If the fence is triggered, one of the 89 CCTV cameras fitted inside the rail corridor will point towards the impacted section, allowing security staff to identify a possible intrusion and take the necessary action to respond. 

Once the final section of the M1 Northwest & Bankstown Line is open, Sydney will have a 66-kilometre fast and reliable metro network from Sydney’s north west, under the harbour and below the Sydney CBD and out to Bankstown in the city’s southwest.