The new line forms the second stage of Sydney’s computer-driven rail network,acting as an extension of the Metro Northwest railway between Tallawong and Chatswood,which opened five years ago. Together,the line will beknown as the “M1” and extend 66 kilometres from Rouse Hill in the northwest to Sydenham in the south,and eventually onto Bankstown.

After the final piece of Sydney’s Metro City and Southwest project opens late next year,anew metro line to Western Sydney Airport is due in late 2026,followed six years later by theMetro West under the city’s east-west spine between the CBD and Parramatta.

The Herald’s transport and infrastructure editor Matt Sullivan traced the long and rocky journey surrounding the conception and building of the mega-metro line,which cost $65 billion and required some 50,000 workers. He notes that given the number of people who guided the project to fruition over the years,unlike theopening of the first stage of Sydney’s metro network in May 2019,the first paid passenger service on the extended M1 line left early Monday morning without the traditional ribbon-cutting by worthies.

Premier Chris Minns acknowledged the role played by Coalition governments in delivering Sydney’s metro. “Credit where credit’s due,” he said in a post on X. “None of this would have been possible without the vision Mike Baird,Gladys Berejiklian,and Dominic Perrottet had for Sydney. This achievement belongs just as much to you.” He later singled out Berejiklian. “On a day like today,I want to pay tribute to her for the fact she pushed through with this project. She had the vision to get it done.”