Sydney's ambitious plan to build a futuristic new Metro system

The Sydney Metro project is Australia's biggest public transportation project in decades. But what does it mean for Sydney? And are they going to get it right?

Sydney Metro has already opened its first new rail line, with the next phase set to open soon. There are also 2 other metro lines in the pipeline! But with the NSW state government putting these projects under review, with the potential for cancellation, I think its worth taking a critical look at the Sydney Metro project - to see if its ultimately worth going ahead with!

[BuildingBeautifully]

Brilliant video. I actually would have put Waterloo at USYD instead, a university somewhat poorly served by public transport (yes, it has Redfern, but good luck if you have classes on the other side of campus!) Zetland can be added to the Sydney Metro West instead.
On that note, I wouldn’t worry about the Sydney Metro West being cancelled; Labor are just playing politics, and indeed a journalist at SMH aptly said “it’s the state’s worst kept secret that Sydney Metro West will not be cancelled”.
I don’t agree with converting the T3 to Regents Park, I think extending it more directly to Liverpool via Chipping Norton makes more sense. I think it’s a shame that Birrong and Yagoona will miss out on a direct Central service (you can watch my video on that), but ultimately they’re minor stations. Finding a way to give them direct Central services via the train line is more important I believe.
Keep it up! I think there’s big things in store for this channel.

[JohnFromAccounting]

Watching Sydney successfully build an entire new metro system while Melbourne is focused on projects that are decades from completion in more than a little frustrating. At least expand our tram network.

[fjeoijweiojfweio]

7:25 all the green areas surrounding metro stations are planned for high/medium density buildings, the car park is also temporary and will (eventually) be removed and turned into residential buildings.

[chris_yang]

Zetland station is being considered for Metro West.

Metro West and Western Airport are already well under construction.

Politically there is little appetite for commuter rail in the Northern Beaches or Eastern Suburbs because of NIMBYISM

[BigBlueMan]

On the whole good video, I think the following is worth knowing for your future video:
1) You make the point that "Metro lines typically have station spacing closer to 500m" - this is true of older systems, but if you look at newer Metro lines like the Paris Grand Express or London Elizabeth Line station spacings of 1.5-2.5km are becoming much more the norm. Theoretically a station has a walking catchment of 800-1000m and a cycling catchment of 2-4km so integrating station with good cycling and bus connections can see station spacings of 2km means you're not more than 1000m from a station allowing the line to really blossom, making full use of the Metro's ability to accelerate and run fast at 100kmh. The Bankstown line has many stations only 700-900m apart and as a result the corridor is slow and innefective over longer distances which will come to be a pain when the Liverpool extension happens.
2) Crows Nest and Waterloo stations have as much to do with activating new land use as providing access to new station footprints, I think it's quite clever what they have done actually; Crows Nest was originally planned to have enormous buildings but these have initially been scaled down, we will see what happens in future but I can see this becoming a big centre. Waterloo was a compromise between needing to have fast journey times for the future Liverpool connection and still easing strain on Green Square and Redfern, plus there is a lot of crappy buildings around there that has huge development potential, whereas your suggestion of a Zetland station would have added another few minutes to journey time and another few hundred million in tunnelling that wouldn't ease the strain on Redfern and Green Square as much, the problem with Redfern isn't that the Bankstown line goes through there right now but rather that platforms are too narrow and it is a poorly-designed interchange station with alot of Uni students and locals.
3) In terms of future lines, the extensions Sydney Metro have already identified are clearly the way to go however my pick for a line after this is the North-South Metro from Park-Rhodes-Top Ryde-Macquarie Park giving you interchange across the whole city. Older Sydney Metro modelling from over a decade ago showed that a Dee Why to North Sydney Metro would have the highest patronage of any line, however this might have changed and we have also just spent a tonne of money on Bus Rapid Transit B-Line plus it will be a massive fight with the locals, so I think this can unfortunately wait.

[adamknight]

Great to see more people discussing Australian transport on Youtube.

[hazptmedia]

You completely missed the Western Sydney Airport Metro

[angryrealists]

Pretty good perspective overall. However, a couple of easy things to miss if you don't know the area...

The stations between Epping and Chatswood were always going to have to be built further underground due to the terrain. The line also runs through Lane Cove National Park, which is the main reason they avoided a rail bridge over the Lane Cove River. The main reason for the large loop was that the original plans had at least one additional station at the former UTS Kuring Gai campus before those plans were scrapped. The route however wasnt changed. I assume they figured they might add additional stations at a later date.

[KhanPiesseONE]

This video was really well done, I loved it, and I look forward to new videos! Maybe some more content about Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast? Though they don't compare in scale to Sydney Metro or Melbourne SRL...
Brisbane - Cross River Rail, and the Brisbane Metro (bus) plus future extensions to Chermside
Gold Coast - Light rail extensions to Coolangatta, new stations along the heavy rail line thanks to Cross River Rail, and proposed BRT east-west routes to connect the city to the heavy rail faster.
Sunshine Coast - The proposed heavy rail extension to Maroochydore that will have significant elevated track, Queensland's answer to Melbourne's Skyrail. Sunshine Coast might also get a light rail or BRT.

[guzmanygomez]

I was in shock when i saw you only have 5k subs. It deserves to be way higher with the quality of this video

[AShadowinthedark]

Great video, basically echoing the opinions I had on the current metro too. I hope they start constructing the link between Tallawong and St Marys in the next 10 years. I think it would also be nice if metro west could be extended and serve some more of the eastern suburbs. Potentially Darlinghurst, Paddington/Moore park, Zetland, Kingsford, Maroubra and one or two more stops.

[Secretlyanothername]

I think that the tide has turned on development, and future governments will want to get the most out of stations by allowing real density near them. That rules out any of the beaches. I think a continuation of the line from Bankstown down through Revesby/Padstow and back to Hurstville would add access and connectivity through new parts of the city.

[jayfielding]

This video didn't even mention Metro Western Sydney Airport, which I think was a slight oversight. The government is looking at adding a few more stations to Metro West I believe.

[-PORK-CHOP-]

75 years ago they had extra platforms / tunnels built at St James to service the Northern beaches (Bradfield's Tunnels) due to all the contention from the Beaches not wanting a train link these tunnels / platforms were never used, now the state govt is considering turning these into an entertainment precinct as they have been sitting there abandoned.

[MrJColtrane]

Great video. Just subscribed.
I travel almost daily from Cherrybrook to Mac Park. The Metro has been a game changer for folk in the Castle Hill/Cherrybrook area - testament to that is that the carpark is full on a week day by 7:15am!
Cancelling Metro West would be disappointing to say the least. The original objective of the Metro West was to have a 20 min journey from the City CBD to Parramatta, hence the number of stations. If they want to change their Objective to focus on servicing more areas and hence more stations, then by all means change it. Bear in mind, from what I understand each of the new stations on the North West metro was a $500M build cost.

[nmuzza]

Connecting the Northern Beaches would make much sense. This was the original proposal when Bradfield had his design. There are (I think) tunnel spurs at North Sydney? However, there has always been opposition from local residents for decades! Would love to see it but possibly won’t happen in my lifetime. 😢

[yggdrasil]

I don't have a problem with it, since Parramatta has grown so much in the last decade or so, but the problem with Metro West is it's just a duplication that adds nothing to the interconnectivity of the overall network. A far more valuable resource for the network would be Kogarah-Parramatta or Hurstville-Strathfield, or even Menai-SydneyOLympic Park, because these three North-South lines would all cut across other East-West lines and join them up, from North-South to East-West. That's what a real urban train network does, if you look at other networks across the world that are successful.

[edwardmiessner]

I'm not Australian in fact I'm from the US but I think any line that can connect to an existing railway station for interchangeability should be built first.

[alimfuzzy]

We bought our house next to a metro station one week before it opened. We noticed after the metro opened houses in the area went up around 50-100K within 2 months.

I fought really hard to get the deal closed before the metro opened. It was going to change everything.

Now houses are growing ridiculously expensive here because they are over building the area with apartments... greatly over valued, but still selling.

If you want land near upcoming metros get them as soon as possible.

[uasakura]

I would like to see metro going to campbelltown too. that part of NSW is quite populated, but hard to access.