Four Sydney Metro projects

Sydney Metro North West opened in 2019 and extends south with the Sydney Metro City and Southwest line. This is partially complete. The Chatswood to Sydenham section opened in August 2024. The Sydenham to Bankstown trains will roll from 2026.

Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport, operating between St Marys and Bradfield City Centre, is due to open in 2026, and the city-shaping Sydney Metro West, between Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD and Westmead, should be complete in 2032.

The future Sydney Metro network of 4 lines (Image: Transport for NSW)

An incredibly popular project - and great for bike riders

By combining cycling with the amazingly fast Metro, trips across a wide arc of Sydney are quick and efficient.

The new stations have excellent lifts that fit bikes of all shapes and sizes. Access to the train carriages is completely level with no gaps. Bike riders can also leave bikes at the stations. Sydney Metro has provided a set of secure bike sheds as well as hundreds of outdoor hoops.

However, the bike sheds are of variable quality and usability.

A review of the bike parking facilities between Crows Nest and Sydenham is starting in August 2025, 12 months after the trains started rolling. Bicycle NSW has explored the existing stations to learn what works and what doesn’t. We examined what was delivered against the updated Transport for NSW standard for bicycle parking, and we made recommendations for the audit process. Read our summary here.

It is essential to ensure that mistakes are not repeated. The next batch of Sydney Metro stations must have excellent bike parking that suits all bicycle riders using all types of bikes

The impressive underground bike parking shed at Waterloo only has double stack racks, which are difficult to use and not suitable for heavy or non-standard bikes (Image: Sydney Metro)

What is SWATL?

The South West Active Transport Link is a continuous walking and cycling path following the Sydney Metro City & Southwest corridor. SWATL (formerly known as EWPCL – East West Pedestrian and Cycling Link!) was a condition of consent for the project. An integral element of the rail-to-Metro upgrade, ensuring accessible, safe, and sustainable transport options for the growing communities along this corridor.

The early plans for SWATL demonstrated that Transport for NSW was taking its own Providing in Walking and Cycling in Transport Projects Policy very seriously.

But the development of SWATL has stalled

Despite its significance, Sydney Metro’s progress on delivering SWATL has been minimal. Very little meaningful engagement or information has been presented to the community or stakeholders. And then in May 2025, Sydney Metro submitted a request to extend the timeframe.

Bicycle NSW recently raised our serious concerns about the progress of SWATL in letters to the Minister for Transport and the Planning Secretary.

Sydney Metro has had more than a decade to plan, consult on, and integrate this project. It needs to be built alongside the Metro - not afterwards, when the contractors have packed up, the budget has been spent and the community is too exhausted to accept more construction upheaval.

There appears to be a deliberate strategy to sideline the active transport elements of Sydney Metro. After all, Transport for NSW has previous form of doing just this. Sydney Park Junction, Rozelle Parklands, St Peters Interchange and Warringah Freeway Upgrade all had walking and cycling connections descoped or delayed.

SWATL is an essential piece of infrastructure. Bicycle NSW and our advocacy partners are fighting hard to get it delivered be delivered in full, as per the condition of consent.

Are active transport corridors planned elsewhere on the network?

Not really. The Sydney Metro West line is underground. However, station precincts should include very high-quality walking and cycling links within a 1km catchment to encourage access by bike. But even if these appear on the plans, delivery lags far behind and often ends up in the too hard basket as we have seen at Crows Nest and Victoria Cross.

And Bicycle NSW is shocked that the 23km, city-shaping Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport line does not include a parallel shared path.