Said no Sydneysider ever: “I love the train replacement bus.” And it’s for that reason that anyone living on Sydney’s Bankstown to Sydenham line is dreading the second half of 2024. That whole section of the Bankstown (T3) train line will face a year-long shutdown, some time from July to October this year, as the line is converted to become part of the new Sydney Metro.
What does that mean for commuters? Anyone who normally catches the train to and from the city from any of the 11 stops between Bankstown and Sydenham will have to take a longer trip on the train replacement bus for (at least) 12 months. A trip on the T3 Line usually takes 23 minutes to complete an all-stops train service from Bankstown to Sydenham; on the replacement bus, that travel time is due to almost double – to 43 minutes in the morning, and 49 minutes in the evening peak. Plus any additional travel you have to do past Sydenham to get to where you’re going.
It’s also been reported that, while some of the replacement buses will be free (due to not being fitted with Opal card readers), about 30 per cent of them will be card reader-ready – meaning some commuters will have to pay for the slower commute while others won’t.
The (future) upside, of course, is that once the rail conversion work has been completed, some people living along this new section of the Sydney Metro train line will be able to jump on the super speedy and frequent Metro trains that will run at least every four minutes during peak hours (much better than the current 15-minute wait). That’s 15 trains an hour on this one line, and 200 trains an hour across the Sydney network – providing room for 100,000 extra travellers across Sydney. And the speed machines will be able to travel at twice the speed of regular trains. No pain, no gain, we guess.