Southwest Metro opens 30 October, Bankstown trips cut to 28 minutes

The NSW Government confirmed on 22 October 2026 that passenger services on the new Southwest Metro will begin at 4:31am on Friday, 30 October, linking Bankstown to the Sydney CBD on a single continuous 66-kilometre driverless line. The confirmation followed final safety approval from the independent Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator, received the day before, on 21 October.

The extension converts the former T3 Bankstown heavy rail line to metro standard, bringing turn-up-and-go metro services for the first time to Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Lakemba, Belmore, Campsie, Canterbury, Hurlstone Park, Dulwich Hill and Marrickville, alongside Bankstown itself. Wiley Park, Dulwich Hill, Hurlstone Park, Punchbowl and Canterbury stations gain lift access for the first time, the government said, alongside platform screen doors, modernised customer information systems and enhanced security technology installed across the line.

Why it matters

For agents and owners along the Canterbury-Bankstown corridor, the practical change is immediate: suburbs that depended on an infrequent single-line heavy rail service now sit on a metro running every four minutes at weekday peak, every five minutes through the day and every ten minutes in the evening and on weekends, with a direct one-seat ride into the CBD and onward toward Macquarie Park and the northwest. The government states the upgrade delivers 50 per cent more passenger capacity than the old T3 Bankstown Line it replaces, and the frequency and capacity change applies from day one, not after a settling-in period.

Campsie is one of the stations gaining the upgrade. It is also where Arada’s approved 33-storey, 156-apartment tower at 10 London Street cleared a state significant development pathway over council objection, a project this masthead reported on 13 October. That approval landed while the final stretch of metro conversion work was still underway, ahead of this week’s opening confirmation, and underlines the kind of station-area apartment pipeline now sitting on a higher-frequency line.

The former Liberal government left the project’s future in doubt and at one point considered cancelling it entirely, the release states; the Minns government says it committed to finishing the build instead.

The numbers

The government’s release cites five specific travel-time savings once the line opens: Bankstown to Central falls to 28 minutes, a six-minute saving; Marrickville to Gadigal falls to 12 minutes, a 12-minute saving; Campsie to Macquarie University falls to 44 minutes, a 17-minute saving; Lakemba to Victoria Cross falls to 37 minutes, a 24-minute saving; and Canterbury to Chatswood falls to 31 minutes, a 23-minute saving.

More than 2,600 driverless metro services will run across the full Sydney Metro M1 network each week once the extension opens, and the government expects around 48,000 trips across the metro line during the 8am to 9am weekday peak. The project involved more than two years of work, 30,000 kilometres of testing and more than 6,000 timetabled test runs converting the 130-year-old rail corridor, including its curved heritage platforms, to metro standard.

What’s next

Full four-minute peak frequency applies from opening day, but the government says services will run every seven minutes rather than every ten over the first weekend, 31 October to 1 November, to manage higher first-weekend interest. Six of the 360 train doors across the fleet will remain temporarily closed during early services as a precaution, and additional staff will be on hand at every station. The pink Southwest Link replacement buses continue running on opening day and across that first weekend while passengers adjust.

The government is directing passengers to plan journeys at transportnsw.info from 26 October, and says it will mark the opening with public activities at Bankstown on Sunday 1 November, from 10am to 1pm.