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Speaking on Sunday,NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the vast majority of passengers had given the metro line a"thumbs up"in the first week of operation.

"We've seen half a million people use it in the first week alone. There's no doubt that there were some glitches and that's always unfortunate but we always knew there would be,"she said.

The metro train line averaged more than 72,000 passengers a day during the working week.Credit:Peter Rae

She warned some glitches were likely to occur over the next few weeks because"no matter how much you test a new system,it's always different when customers actually start to use it".

On Friday,a power failure temporarily halted services between Rouse Hill and Hills Showground,a day after a train broke down,causing delays to services. Passengers have also complained of carriage doors failing to open,and trains having to reverse after overshooting platforms.

Mathew Hounsell,a researcher at the University of Technology's Institute for Sustainable Futures,said patronage at new stations along the line could surge by 50 per cent during the ramp-up period of the next nine months,which he forecast would result in more than 100,000 people a day using metro trains by June next year.

"For the first nine months we will see strong patronage growth as people get used to the line. Passengers will learn how to use it for easier off-peak activities like shopping,"he said."Even more passengers can be expected when the new apartments at North Ryde and other stations along the line are occupied."

The line incorporates the 13 kilometre Epping to Chatswood line,which last year had an average of about 20,000 people use their Opal cards to tap on at Macquarie University,Macquarie Park and North Ryde stations each weekday before it wastemporarily closed.

Toll-road operator Transurban saidin February that it did not expect the opening of the metro rail line to reduce traffic volumes on the M2 motorway,a major arterial routes in Sydney's north.

However,Ms Berejiklian said anecdotal evidence suggested there were fewer cars on roads such as the M2 during the first week of the metro line's operation.

"We are seeing a ... noticeable reduction in cars on the road,which was exactly the intention,"she said."When fewer people are driving it really improves traffic throughout greater Sydney. This is what mass transit options are about."

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