Updated October 22, 2026 — 7:15am,first published 6:20am
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The final section of Sydney’s $30 billion M1 metro rail line will open to passengers on Friday, October 30, ending more than two years of major disruptions for commuters who have been forced to catch replacement buses in the south-west.
The NSW government confirmed on Thursday the date for the opening of the 13-kilometre stretch of the metro rail line between Sydenham and Bankstown. The first passenger services will start running along the south-west line at 4.31am on Friday next week.
Dulwich Hill station, pictured, is one of 10 on the M1 line’s south-west section.Sitthixay Ditthavong
The long-awaited opening had hinged on final safety approval for passenger services by the national rail regulator, which was received by the government on Wednesday.
Premier Chris Minns said the opening would be a “huge moment” for south-west Sydney, and he thanked the thousands of commuters, families and local businesses for their patience during the project to convert the line to metro train standards.
“This is about giving people in south-west Sydney the same fast, reliable public transport connections that other parts of our city enjoy. It’s an investment that will make a real difference to these communities for generations to come,” he said.
Like the rest of the M1 line, trains will run every four minutes during weekday peak hours, every five minutes between 10am and 3pm, and every 10 minutes in the evenings and on weekends.
Premier Chris Minns (right) and other ministers on a metro train in July at Bankstown station.Steven Siewert
However, services will be boosted to one every seven minutes on the first weekend of the south-west section’s operation – October 31-November 1 – to accommodate increased interest from passengers.
A trip from Canterbury to Chatswood will take 31 minutes, a time saving of 23 minutes compared to the previous heavy rail commutes, while Lakemba to Victoria Cross in North Sydney will take 37 minutes, saving passengers 24 minutes.
While insisting that the final stage was ready to open to passengers, the government conceded there “may be some minor teething issues as services get under way”. Extra metro staff will be rostered on for the new services.
The ribbon cutting for the metro line on October 30 will come just over two weeks before a new rail timetable for the Sydney Trains network is introduced. This will have the greatest impact to services on the T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line.
Bankstown metro station is finally set to welcome commuters.Sitthixay Ditthavong
As part of the timetable changes on November 15, all T4 trains will stop at Sydenham station to enable passengers to switch to driverless trains on the M1 metro line.
To assure safety regulators, the government will keep a tiny fraction of the 360 platform screen doors closed when the south-west section opens. Three screen doors will remain closed at Dulwich Hill station, and one each at Canterbury, Campsie and Marrickville to reduce the risk of “even minor safety issue”.
Curved platforms have required 170 mechanical gap fillers to be installed at eight stations. The small hydraulic platforms extend to the metro carriages before screen doors open, ensuring that commuters can safely step on and off.
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The opening of the M1 line’s south-west section is about two weeks later than a target date of “mid-October”, which was detailed in confidential Sydney Metro documents earlier this year.
However, it will finally put an end to pink-coloured replacement buses, which have significantly lengthened commuters’ trips along the corridor and cost taxpayers about $200 million.
Tens of thousands of commuters have had to catch the replacement buses each day between Sydenham and Bankstown since September 2024, when the T3 heavy rail line was shut to complete the final 13-kilometre section of the M1 line.
In mid-2018, the former Coalition government told commuters that the line would need to be closed for three to six months. Even before it closed in September 2024, the Minns government said the shutdown might last longer than its earlier estimates of 12 months.
The total cost of the city and south-west sections of the 66-kilometre M1 line is forecast to cost as much as $23 billion, up from $21.6 billion previously.
The government has not broken out the cost of each section. However, the increase of almost $1.5 billion in the forecast last December is mostly due to the final stage between Sydenham and Bankstown given the city section opened in August 2024.
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Matt O’Sullivan is transport and infrastructure editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners