‘Awesome day’: all aboard Sydney’s new metro stations as the long-awaited extension opens

The crowd was a sea of Sydney metro-themed T-shirts, badges, caps, earrings and sequinned jackets. Enthusiasts held signs declaring ‘We love public transport’

Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Hundreds of rail enthusiasts and a handful of bewildered commuters have ridden the first service on a long-awaited extension to Sydney’s metro line, bringing an end to more than two years of replacement buses.

The 4.31am train on the south-west metro extension left Bankstown on time on Friday, arriving at Sydenham, where the line previously terminated, just over 20 minutes later. It carried on to Tallawong in the city’s north-west at the end of what is now a 66km continuous, high-speed, driverless line.