Sydney Metro

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railjournal/status/1599811488432230405

[ozbob]

The final contract for the mega Sydney Metro-Western Sydney Airport project has been awarded, bringing metro services...

Posted by Sydney Metro - NSW GOV on Thursday, 15 December 2022

[kram0]

It just blows my mind how much they are spending on rail in greater Sydney.

We are so behind and not even talking about building this type of infrastructure it's concerning.

They are really planning ahead for what's needed in 20 years time. Most of these areas are still rural.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/smh/status/1612899329789796354

[verbatim9]

Inernational Rail Journal--->https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/metros/nsw-developing-business-cases-for-four-new-metro-lines/

[verbatim9]

Sneak peak at the newly completed platforms at Central.

[verbatim9]

Sydney Metro---->https://www.sydneymetro.info/article/all-platform-screen-doors-city-stations-now-compete

All platform screen doors have now been installed across the new city stations as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, with 288 doors stretching 2.7 kilometres over the eight stations.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1646302252305620994

[#Metro]

^^ They might just need to build Brisbane 'Metro BRT' type system then hey?   

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1646516924472504321

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> First train to run under harbour early tomorrow, 91 years after loco chugged over bridge $

In the early hours of Friday, a single-deck metro train will take the first journey along a new rail line under Sydney Harbour, in a historic milestone for the city's expanding public transport system.

More than 91 years after the first steam train travelled over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the metro train will pull out of a large rail yard at Tallawong in the city's north-west about 2am before snaking through rail tunnels beneath the harbour and CBD as part of testing.

The second rail crossing of Australia's most famous stretch of water is part of the $20.5 billion Metro City and Southwest rail line between Chatswood and Sydenham via the CBD, and onto Bankstown in the west. ...

Sydney's planned metro rail network

[ozbob]

The first train to travel under Sydney Harbour | 7NEWS

[ozbob]

Train crosses under Sydney Harbour in new milestone test | 9 News Australia

[ozbob]

ABC News --> First driverless metro train crosses Sydney Harbour underwater

A driverless metro train has travelled under Sydney Harbour for the first time in what has been described as a "significant moment" for the  city.

Engineers put the new track work to the test early on Friday morning in the first of many test runs for the line.

Key points:
. Six new train stations have been built across the city's CBD
. The budget for the Sydney Metro project has blown out by billions
. Passengers can embark on their own journey under the harbour in 2024 ...

[Jonno]

Metro for Bne!!!

[#Metro]

Will be interesting to see how this affects patronage. My hunch is that it will equalise with the SEB patronage, which is currently sitting somewhere around ~ 40 million bus passengers per year.

[Jonno]

Will be interesting to see how this affects patronage. My hunch is that it will equalise with the SEB patronage, which is currently sitting somewhere around ~ 40 million bus passengers per year.

except for the 10,000% better customer experience but I also suspect much higher ppy!!

[ozbob]

It's history in the making! For the first time in NSW's transport history, trains are running under Sydney Harbour as...

Posted by Sydney Metro on Thursday, 20 April 2023

[Old Northern Road]

Will be interesting to see how this affects patronage. My hunch is that it will equalise with the SEB patronage, which is currently sitting somewhere around ~ 40 million bus passengers per year.

Huh? This line will probably have higher patronage than SEQ's entire bus+rail network combined. The existing line to Chatswood is already nearly equal to the SEB and it mostly runs through low density sprawl

[#Metro]

Feel free to present your findings.

SEB 150,000 pax/day x 5.5 days/week x 52 weeks = 42.9 million passengers/year approx.

* Used 5.5 to capture weekend use.

Source: https://www.ugllimited.com/en/case-studies/current/brisbane-busways

South East Busway carries more than 150,000 passengers a day and the inner Northern Busway carries more than one million passengers each month.
 
During peak periods, up to 294 buses per hour – or one every 12 seconds - can pass through the network's busiest point, just north of Woolloongabba Station on the South East Busway.

[ozbob]

^ those figures for the SEB are an overestimate.

See Bus: Transport for Brisbane (Brisbane Transport) FY 12/13 to 21/22
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=14886.0

Sydney Metro max pax is around 46,000 pphpd. ( https://www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/Sydney%20Metro%20CSW%20Business%20Case%20Summary.pdf )

There is really no comparison, particularly when you consider the other factors such as labour costs, and travel amenity etc.

[SurfRail]

I don't take any busway figures seriously where so much of the capacity is made up of Captain Cook bridge services.

A proper light rail system using the Siemens rollingstock from Calgary in 75m consists at 2 minute headways would be pulling 20,000pphd, and would service every stop reliably.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1653766553824038912

[#Metro]

I'm doing a little more reading on Sydney Metro.

Sydney Metro Northwest

The Sydney Metro Northwest section (Chatswood-Tallawong) is 36 km in length.

It also takes 36 minutes to get from Tallawong to Chatswood. This is an average speed of 60 km/hr. Given that there are 13 stations, the average time to go from one station to another is 3 minutes.The average station spacing is therefore also 3 km.

SE Busway Comparison (off-peak)

I've taken the last 111 bus on Sunday night to represent the travel speed from Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street as the the fastest uncongested trip possible. This bus leaves at 11.22 pm and arrives at Roma Street at 11.51 pm, taking 29 minutes to do the trip.

The busway is about 17 km in length and has 11 stations (Roma Street - Eight Mile Plains) which gives an average speed of about 35 km/hr. If there are 11 stations, this is about 2.9 minutes between each station. The average distance between each station is 1.7 km average station spacing.

Comments

Sydney Metro stations are on average spaced more further apart than SEB busway stations by about 1 km. The Sydney metro service has a much higher average speed, almost twice the average speed of what BUZ 111 is doing on the SEB. I would also imagine acceleration of the metro might also be a factor here as well.

If the SEB were to be replaced by a rail-based metro, and if a route was taken via Woolloongabba (leaving the Mater Hill-Cultural Centre section untouched) I wonder if the average service speed could be set far higher than just using buses in addition to having higher inherent capacity with a rail-based metro.

If we could lift the service speed from an average of 35 km/hr using trains to 50 km/hr, the service would be much more attractive.

At an average speed of 50 km/hr, a trip from Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street would take about 19 minutes rather than 29 minutes, a saving of 10 minutes. To do the same trip in a car in uncongested conditions would take 16 minutes, and in congested conditions, anywhere between 22-50 minutes (Google Maps estimate for Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street via Captain Cook Bridge, Monday 15th May 2023).

[Jonno]

And a 1000% improvement in legibility and station experience.

Technology available to take true Metro via South Brisbane.

[#Metro]

Check out this new mechanical contraption that extends the station platform and then retracts when the train departs.

[achiruel]

I suspect much of the slowness of the 111 has less to do with the fact it's a bus, and more to do with all the signals it may potentially stop at in the inner section of the busway (Melbourne St portal, northern end of Victoria Bridge). Timetable allows 12 minutes from Southbank to Roma St at 5am. The train, which is quite slow through this section, takes 7 minutes. I suspect more people would alight the bus at KGS, and the train at Central, which makes the bus superior at 8 minutes vs train at 11. 111 takes 4 minutes from KGS to RS. I could almost walk the distance in that time (maybe a slight exaggeration). It seems ridiculously long.

[ozbob]

Spotted 👀. The Sydney Metro City & Southwest train has made its way to Sydenham Station for the first time! 🚈 This is...

Posted by Sydney Metro on Tuesday, 16 May 2023

[ozbob]

Sydney Metro Corporate Plan Update 2023–2024

https://www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/2023-05/Sydney_Metro_Corporate_Plan_Update_2023%E2%80%932024_0.pdf

[ozbob]

Sydney Metro Connect app is now live!

Sydney Metro has launched Sydney Metro Connect – a new way to stay informed.

Download the Sydney Metro Connect app onto your device to keep updated about current work and project milestones on Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport.

The app has many features, including an interactive map, construction alerts for your area and latest news.

You can download Sydney Metro Connect on the App Store or get it on Google Play.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1665362647745806338

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1686018971063943168

[#Metro]

$64 billion on metros. That is just astronomical.

Very interesting to contrast the Melbourne approach to Sydney.

Melbourne would just need to add more trains all day to most lines to reach the 10 minute frequent trains mark.

Could be done for far less than  $64b one would think. Similar thinking for Brisbane... upgrading existing QR network to 10 min service all day in the BCC LGA might be the way to go.

[ozbob]

Sydney's south west metro rail project will go ahead | 7NEWS

[Gazza]

$64 billion on metros. That is just astronomical.

Very interesting to contrast the Melbourne approach to Sydney.

Melbourne would just need to add more trains all day to most lines to reach the 10 minute frequent trains mark.

Could be done for far less than  $64b one would think. Similar thinking for Brisbane... upgrading existing QR network to 10 min service all day in the BCC LGA might be the way to go.
QUOTE

To an extent, I think Melbourne benefits from having quite good coverage in the first place.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Melbourne+VIC/@-37.8510304,145.012274,91580m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ad646b5d2ba4df7:0x4045675218ccd90!8m2!3d-37.8136276!4d144.9630576!16zL20vMGNoZ3pt!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu

If you look at the rail map layer on Google Maps, you can see you are never more than about 4km from rail in Melbourne, so thats easily bikable or scooterable, or not an arduous bus ride.

The main sore point was at Doncaster, which is the largest block of Melbourne, but they are getting a busway at least:
https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/north-east-link-program/design/eastern-express-busway

There was also a large growth area at Tarneit, but that was covered off by RRL.

But in Sydney, there are HUGE areas without rail, and there is no simple way to fix that.

Eg the Kellyville/Rouse Hill area is 8km from rail.

All of the Northern Beaches lacks rail.

Bankstown is being converted to metro to free up capacity for frequency increases on the older rail lines.

The Western line is already 6 tracks and overloaded, and that has brought about the need for Metro West.

Likewise, there is a new airport out at Bradfield, and a desire to build a satellite city, that needs infrastructure.

I still dont know WHY it is costing so much. NW metro was mooted at 8.3b and came in at 7.3b. Perfectly reasonable for that amount of underground rail.

Meanwhile other lines of similar length are coming in at triple the cost a few years later.

The existing network already has at least 4tph, and they have already done the work in terms of getting that optimised with the Rail Clearways programme, so I feel as though Sydney has already done the perth/melbourne approach.

And a lot of that happened under the previous NSW Labor govt, who was seemingly allergic to building new rail.
But you can only wring so much out of existing infrastructure.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ChrisMinnsMP/status/1686215195717214208

[ozbob]

Get a glimpse of the Sydney Metro platforms passengers will be alighting from when fast and reliable metro services...

Posted by Sydney Metro on Monday, 4 September 2023

[ozbob]

https://x.com/RailExpressNews/status/1704284131075756065?s=20

[Jonno]

https://x.com/RailExpressNews/status/1704284131075756065?

QLD TMR" "Will no one think of the car drivers!!!"

[ozbob]

Gadigal Sydney Metro stop is being built to take pressure off Town Hall station | 9 News Australia