Commuters will soon be travelling for the first time on driverless trains under Sydney Harbour after a regulator signed off on the delayed opening of the new line.
The state Labor government was red-faced when it had to push back the targeted August 4 opening date for the $21 billion addition to Sydney’s Metro network, Australia’s largest public transport project.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen previously refused to nominate a new date when she announced services for the Chatswood to Sydenham line would not begin as expected.
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Eleven days after the scheduled launch, the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator on Thursday confirmed it had finished its safety assessment and approved the publicly owned, privately run metro line to operate.
“A commencement date is a matter for the NSW government,” the regulator said.
Haylen in July said multiple factors had contributed to the delay.
“One of those of course is the incident that occurred on the northwest, as well as industrial action,” she said.
Problems on the existing northwest section of the Sydney line, beginning at Tallawong, had left passengers stuck for hours.
The Fire Brigade Employees Union also imposed a temporary ban on emergency management exercises on the metro amid a stoush over pay.
The union on Wednesday warned the line was still not ready to open after a firefighter received an electric shock during a training exercise earlier in August.
“What if this occurred during an actual incident such as a fire?” the union’s secretary Leighton Drury said.
“This could have devastating consequences for not only firefighters but the general public.”