Sydney Metro Northwest - Operations, Trains and Systems PPP
Australia’s biggest transport project
The Sydney Metro Operations Trains and Systems (OTS) public private partnership (PPP) delivered Australia’s first driverless railway when stage one of the country’s biggest public transport project, the Metro North West Line, opened in May 2019.
The PPP has gone on to deliver a level of customer service and safety never before seen in Australia, demonstrating Sydney Metro’s commitment to delivering sustainable city-shaping outcomes and a world-class metro that is enhancing the city’s liveability and productivity.
Rail passengers have enjoyed continued high availability and reliability of services every four minutes in peak and ten minutes off-peak. Easy, safe and reliable journeys have been maintained formor than five years, with over 84 million customer journeys and 18 million km travelled since opening.
Scope extension
Pacific Partnerships, and CIMIC Group companies CPB Contractors, UGL and EIC Activities, as part of the Northwest Rapid Transit consortium, delivered the $3.7bn OTS contract – the largest PPP ever awarded in NSW.
This included delivering eight new railway stations, more than 4,000 commuter car parking spaces, Sydney’s new metro trains and upgrading the railway between Chatswood and Epping.
Pacific Partnerships provided further equity investment when the OTS2 PPP was granted to extend the metro line from Chatswood, through the City and to Bankstown in the southwest.
Metro North West Line will be operated and maintained through the NRT PPP for an initial concession period of 15 years by Metro Trains Sydney (MTS), a joint venture including UGL.
The city section was opened on 19 August 2024, with the line now renamed as the M1 Metro Northwest & Bankstown Line, connecting Tallawong to Sydenham. MTS has commenced operation and maintenance of this extension, read more about the OTS2 PPP here.
ESG initiatives
The Metro North West Line uses zero-emission electricity for all operational electricity needs, saving more than 142,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the 2022 financial year. This is equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 300,000 return car trips between Sydney and Melbourne. This includes using zero-emission electricity via a power purchase agreement with the Beryl Solar Farm in regional NSW.