The opening day of the $7.3 billion Sydney driverless Metro train, left new commuters disappointed and frustrated.
Passengers experienced delays due to technical glitches with the service, namely doors that needed to be manually opened, and trains overshooting the platform, and being forced to reverse back to the platform.
“You’d expect in the first few weeks and even months that it won’t be perfect. We are asking people to be patient and I want to thank everybody for their patience”, said an apologetic NSW Premier Gladys Berjiklian this morning on Today, for Sunday’s problems.
21,000 people used the Metro between 4:45am and 10am this morning, particularly through the busy interchange hubs of Epping (8080 tapped on with Opal) and Chatswood (4695 tapped on with Opal). Despite the initial problems with the service yesterday, commuters seem pleased with the service.
Sydney Trains Chief Howard Collins was pleased with the service this morning. “What was great to see was ordinary commuters use Sydney Metro”. Commuters were pleased as well, with some taking to social media to express how they were able to secure a seat on the new Metro.
More than 20,000 people have worked on the $7.3 billion project. With the conclusion of this project, work is already in play to extend the Metro line from Chatswood to Bankstown.
While there have been some issues, the Metro appears to be a success. Let’s hope that they don’t start playing atonal music from the trains like they do in Berlin.
