Sydney’s long-awaited Metro opening is a welcome cause for celebration

Like thousands of others, I climbed aboard Sydney’s new Metro extension this morning. The excitement was palpable after two painful years of lurching pink buses (chronicled in excruciating detail by CBD’s John Buckley). Commuters took selfies and collected I Love Metro badges on platforms they haven’t seen since September 30, 2024, when the old T3 line closed. I barely had time to pin on a badge, however, because the metro pulled into the station within minutes. The old quarter-hour wait for the service to the city has been consigned to history.

My trip was during peak hour, but the Herald’s transport and infrastructure editor Matt O’Sullivan rode on the very first service at 4.31am. Matt is too modest to admit it, but he’s quite the rock star in the mass transit field. Some of the trainspotters who gathered for the first service this morning were almost as excited to spot him. He’s attended a few such events in his 17-odd years reporting on transport and aviation for the Herald, including the launch of the Metro city section in August 2024, and said today’s event was even more exuberant.

“It took it to another level,” he said. “It was a carnival atmosphere. A bigger number of people turned out at an earlier time. The train left at 4.31am, but most people were there by half past three. It’s been a long wait, and it reflects the importance of this upgraded line to the people of the south-west. It’s also the completion of the final part of the $30 billion, 66-kilometre line that connects the north-west to the south-west, via the CBD. The train itself was absolutely packed, we were squeezed in like sardines.

“The south-west has always had a rail line, but what’s really important [about the metro] is the reliability. The heavy rail line carries the bulk of people [in Sydney]. It’s a good set-up, but it’s old – like an old car, it’s a lot more prone to breaking down. This is a fully autonomous rail line.” I spoke to Matt at lunchtime, and he was still busy writing. I suggested he might need a nap. “The trainspotter adrenaline pushes you through,” he said.

The extension is good news for the commuters of the inner and south-west, but it also opens up that part of the city to the rest of Sydney. As culture reporter Kayla Olaya wrote this week, the metro has supercharged the area around Sydenham station. Now, it’s Campsie, Lakemba and Bankstown’s turn. The south-west has incredible food (El Manara in Lakemba is a personal favourite), and to help our readers navigate these opportunities, senior writer Alexandra Smith selflessly embarked on a culinary tour of the Sydenham to Bankstown stretch (keep an eye out for that tomorrow).

Speaking of dining, the Herald hosted its annual Good Food Guide awards on Monday night. This is always a fabulous event, led by the brilliant head of Good Food Sarah Norris, and one of the best things about it (apart from the snacks) is the exuberance in the room. These people love what they do, are hugely clever and creative and, best of all, support each other generously. There were big shouts of excitement when Sixpenny in Stanmore won restaurant of the year, when Hussein Sarhan and Alex Tong from South End were announced as chefs of the year, and when Vespertine was crowned bar of the year. There was a standing ovation when Peter Gilmore, of Quay and Bennelong fame, was named a Good Food Guide legend.

You can read the full list of winners here, and you can also share the restaurants that take your fancy with your prospective dining companions via the Herald’s new article gifting function. Starter digital subscribers can gift three articles (including subscriber-only stories) per month, and premium digital readers can share five per month. Gifted articles can be read for up to seven days or three visits, whichever comes first, and the credits will be reset at the beginning of each month.

The gift article option will no doubt be useful tomorrow, too, when you’re reading the first instalment of our Most Beautiful Homes series, which looks at the most original, stylish and livable homes in Sydney. We enlisted the help of industry judges, as well as our own internal experts, to sift through nominations from architects and designers and find the top 10 homes across three categories: heritage, modern and apartments. The homes are a lovely mix of quirk, style and ambition, and the pictures are the sort that you could pore over for hours.

Tomorrow it’s heritage homes, on Sunday it’s modern ones, and on Monday we will take a look at Sydney’s most beautiful apartments. Next Friday, we’ll feature the winning homes in each category across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (with absolute objectivity, I can assure you that Sydney’s are the best).

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