‘Absolutely ecstatic’: Metro finally arrives at 130yo train stations | Sydney Southwest Metro ope…

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'Absolutely ecstatic': Metro finally arrives at 130yo train stations

Hundreds of people have turned out to mark the opening of the Southwest Metro line, which cost just under $23 billion.

Services are expected to run every four minutes during weekday peak times and every five minutes outside those times.

For two years, commuters used pink replacement buses while the works were completed.

Public transport enthusiasts, early commuters, politicians and other officials rode the first 13-kilometre passenger service from Bankstown to Sydenham, which arrived at 4:31am.

This comes after more than two years of passengers being forced onto replacement pink buses as the 130-year-old heavy rail T3 Bankstown line was converted into a metro line.

Sydney Southwest Metro opening LIVE updates: Crowd cheers as mega rail project’s final stage opens after two years of disruptions

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Welcome to the opening day of the final section of Sydney’s $30 billion M1 metro line.

For commuters in Sydney’s south-west who have endured pink replacement buses for the last two years, the opening of the final stretch between Sydenham and Bankstown of the 66-kilometre M1 line could not come soon enough.

We will be meeting some of those commuters this morning, as well as those who woke in the early hours to catch the first passenger service at 4.31am from Bankstown station.

Metro-themed shirts, ‘We love public transport’ signs and a kiss at Bankstown: Sydney’s newest train line opens

The crowd was a sea of Sydney metro-themed T-shirts, badges, caps, earrings and sequined jackets. Enthusiasts held signs declaring ‘We love public transport’

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Hundreds of rail enthusiasts and a handful of bewildered commuters have ridden the first service on a long-awaited extension to Sydney’s metro line, bringing an end to more than two years of replacement buses.

The 4.31am train on the south-west metro extension left Bankstown on time on Friday, arriving at Sydenham, where the line previously terminated, just over 20 minutes later. It carried on to Tallawong in the city’s north-west at the end of what is now a 66km continuous, high-speed, driverless line.

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