Southwest Metro enters Trial Running as opening draws closer
03.08.2026
The Southwest Metro project has entered its final operational readiness phase before passenger services begin, with Trial Running now underway across the newly converted railway.
The final phase of testing is designed to put every aspect of the railway through its paces, validating how the network will perform under normal operations as well as rare and unexpected scenarios to ensure it is safe, reliable and ready to welcome passengers.
From last Monday and over the coming weeks, more than 120 operational scenarios will be undertaken, including two major emergency exercises involving around 400 volunteers acting as passengers alongside emergency services and Transport personnel.
Operational exercises will test the resilience of the railway and the readiness of the teams who will operate it, and will include disrupted train operations, customer evacuations from stations, crowd management, lift and escalator failures, security incidents and service recovery.
Exercises will reflect real-life incidents involving personnel from Fire and Rescue NSW, the NSW Police Force, the Transport Management Centre and Sydney Trains.
As Trial Running progresses, community members may notice increased activity at stations and along the rail corridor.
Alongside these scenarios, some trains will continue operating across the full line between Tallawong and Bankstown. Initially, these through running services will run overnight and on weekends before progressively increasing in frequency.
Trains on the Southwest line will soon operate under fully automated conditions, controlled by the Operations Control Centre (OCC), replicating operations once passenger services begin. Up until this point in the program, an operator has been on hand to ensure the safe movement of each test train.
Once Trial Running and all remaining regulatory approvals are complete, Southwest Metro will be ready to welcome passengers.
When the extension opens, the M1 Metro line will operate as one continuous service from Tallawong to Bankstown.
The fully integrated 51.5-kilometre M1 line will be capable of moving around 17,000 passengers in each direction every hour through the Sydney CBD during the busiest periods.
Trial Running checklist:
• 120 exercise/50 scenario types
• 2 major exercises with up to 400 volunteers
• Timetable based scenarios
• Automated operations to complete 6 scenarios