Six months ago, the doors opened to a shiny new stretch of Sydney Metro – 15 kilometres of new subterranean tunnels connecting Sydney from Chatswood in the north to Sydenham in the Inner West. The latest addition to the Sydney Metro system was arguably the most exciting thing to happen to Sydney since the Fifa Women's World Cup (aside from the blooming of Purtricia, obviously) but it’s not stopping there. Once complete, the Sydney Metro project will comprise 46 stations across the city, and tunnel boring on the huge Sydney Metro West project has now reached 80 per cent completion.
When it starts welcoming passengers (due for 2032), Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD. Currently, a lot of the heavy lifting on the Metro West project is being done by enormous tunnel boring machines (TMBs), which are constructing 2.3-kilometre twin railway tunnels deep below the harbour. This week, the project has reached a major milestone: with more than 80 per cent of the 24-kilometre twin metro railway tunnels for this new stretch now complete.
TBMs “Daphne” and “Beatrice” completed 11-kilometre twin metro tunnels between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park in October 2024. Now, four of the machines are currently operating beneath the city. TMBs “Jessie” and “Ruby” have completed 33 per cent of the 2.3-kilometre tunnels between The Bays and Hunter Street in Sydney’s CBD, with the remaining 1.7-kilometres of the alignment being excavated by roadheader machine. And TMBs “Betty” and “Dorothy” have each built more than 75 per cent of nine kilometres of tunnel between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead, this week making a major breakthrough 24-metres below the earth’s surface at the Clyde Metro junction caverns.
According to Transport for NSW, this junction cavern at Clyde will play a critical role in the Sydney Metro network, as it connects the subterranean metro tunnels with the above-ground stabling and maintenance facility, where the network’s new fleet of trains will be housed when not operational.
“This is another huge step forward as we deliver the largest new public transport project Western Sydney has seen in generations while also turbocharging the delivery of new homes,” Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns has said on the project.
The 1,100-tonne machines operate around the clock, seven days a week – gradually excavating earth to create space for the trains to travel. So far, “Betty” and “Dorothy” have carved out 5.7-kilometres of twin tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Clyde, removing more than 1.1 million tonnes of material (equivalent to about 180 Olympic-size swimming pools).
You can learn more about where Sydney Metro is going next via the map below, and we’ve put together all of our Sydney Metro insights – from details on the station artwork to facts about accessibility – over here.
