Sydney’s new metro will transform the city (Image: Getty)
One of Australia’s most famous cities is getting a huge overhaul of its transport system set to transform the daily commute.
is getting bigger by the day, so it is now in the middle of building one of the biggest suburban rail projects in the world.
This megaproject is in size and scope, an unrivalled infrastructure extending in almost every direction and will cost a staggering £32bn ($64bn).
Sydney will have 46 new stations and over 70 miles of new track, becoming the country’s largest underground railway cavern ever created, with driverless trains running every four minutes beneath the harbour and with the longest tunnels.
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Sydney Harbour Bridge (Image: Getty)
Not since the built almost a century ago has Sydney constructed such a colossal city-defining project.
The history of Sydney’s infrastructure has been the history of bridging this gap, most famously with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, the tallest steel arch bridge in the world.
It took until 1992, to built the second crossing, the Sydney Harbour tunnel, a dual carriage way that burrows under the water for nearly a kilometer, connecting North Sydney and CBD (Connecting Business District).
Sydney’s Driverless Metro at Rouse Hill Station (Image: Getty)
More than thirty years later, the Sydney Metro is the city’s next major crossing which is being built in four phases:
- Phase 1: It has already been completed – Sydney Metro North West. It became operational in 2019 and cost AUD$7.3BN, and included 36KM of track between Chatswood and Rouse Hill. A staggering 15km of tunnels, 4km of bridges and eight new stations are also included in this phase.
- Phase 2 (due to be completed by 2030): West features 24km of underground metro rail, connecting Parramatta (set to become Sydney’s second downtown) to Sydney CBD and cost AUD$25BN.
- Phase 3 (set to be open in 2026): Includes a connection to Western Sydney Airport, costing AUD$11BN and expected to service over 10M passengers a year, easing the burden on Sydney’s main airport, which currently accommodates on eof the busiest passengger air routes in the world.
- Phase 4: Possibly the most exciting part of the project, which will consist of two main components:
- First: The conversion of 11 stations part of the existing Bankstown line for use by autonomous driverless trains
- Second: New 15.5KM twin-tunnel rail crossing under Sydney Harbour an through the city. That new tunnel bores 40 meters below the glittery surface of the Sydbey Harbour where it reaches the CBD. Carved from sandrstones, it is the largest rail ine to be constructed under Sydney Central since the city central undergorund railway was completed in the 1950s. This construction is Australia’s largest undergound railway cavern at Victoria Cross Station. This escavated railway cavern is 265 meters long, 25 meters wide and 20 meters high. (265 m x 95 m x 20 m).