Sydney Southwest Metro to open on 30 October
The NSW government says peak-hour trains will arrive every four minutes, ending more than two years of replacement bus services.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced that Sydney’s Southwest Metro extension will open on 30 October 2026, with the first driverless train scheduled to leave at 4.31am.
The government says the service will give south-western Sydney passengers faster journeys and direct links to the CBD, north Sydney and north-western suburbs. It says passenger capacity will be 50 per cent higher than on the former T3 Bankstown Line.
Weekday peak services will operate at four-minute intervals at stations including Bankstown, Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Lakemba, Dulwich Hill and Marrickville. The government says daytime services will be five minutes apart, widening to 10 minutes for evenings and weekends. Extra services are planned for 31 October and 1 November to meet expected opening-weekend interest.
Passengers have relied on replacement buses for more than two years. The Sydenham–Bankstown section closed in September 2024 for conversion from heavy rail, with work initially expected to take 12 months. Industrial action and the project’s complexity delayed completion.
Station works include platform screen doors, updated passenger information and security technology. Wiley Park, Dulwich Hill, Hurlstone Park, Punchbowl and Canterbury have received accessible lifts for the first time.
The extension completes Sydney’s M1 Metro North West and Bankstown Line, linking Bankstown with Tallawong over a 66-kilometre route.
