However,the main section of the new line under Sydney Harbour and the CBD from Chatswood to Sydenham remains on schedule to open next year.

“We’re really,really focused on getting the city[section] open,and we think that’ll make a massive difference because it’s a new service,” Regan said. “While the Bankstown Line is an improved service for the people on that section,they’ve already got the existing service in place.”

With patronage across Sydney’s public transport at about two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels,Regan said there was likely to be a “lag effect in terms of patronage growth” on the City and Southwest line after it opens.

“The actual patronage levels are probably going to lag for the next five years or so by two or three years behind where they might otherwise have been,” he said. “But it’s coming back,and it doesn’t change the long-run forecasts.”

Transport Minister David Elliott,who is departing state politics at the March election,said NSW was not entirely over the challenges of building new metro lines but “we’ve come a long way”,noting thebreakthrough in the dispute with rail unions late last year.

“And the longer we get away from the COVID shutdowns of construction sites the better off we are at making sure we accelerate the catch-up,” he said.

Asked whether the pandemic had reduced the need for Sydney’s new metro lines,Elliott said he believed they would stand the test of time. “It is very much a case of build it,and they will come,” he said.

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