Australia’s first driverless metro train has passed its first full test with flying colours, having recently travelled along the entire 36 kilometres of Sydney’s $8.3 billion Metro Northwest rail line.

Engineers are now checking the new autonomous trains and systems will run smoothly on the Sydney Metro, according to Transport for NSW, with around 19,000 km of train testing completed so far.

“The new train is made by world-class manufacturer Alstom,” Sydney Metro revealed. “It’s customised for Sydney, but is based on the international Metropolis train, which is used in 25 cities including metros in Singapore, Barcelona and Amsterdam.”

All 22 six-car train sets that were ordered from Alstom in 2014 have now been delivered from the company’s Sricity facility in Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

“Alstom’s engineering hub in Bengaluru adapted the Metropolis and Urbalis solutions to the specific needs of Sydney Metro,” Alstom said when delivering the last train in December 2018 (pictured leaving India).

Some of the features of the customised trains include level access between platform and train plus platform screens for safety and fast onboarding and disembarking, three double doors on each side of a carriage, and real-time route information and live electronic route maps.

Passengers and staff will be able to see down the entire length of the interior of the train from one end to the other and the network will have continuous mobile phone coverage. Transport for NSW has touted that the new trains will run at 98% on-time.

Alstom also provided the CBTC signalling system for the North West Rail Link. Transport for NSW said the on-board train systems will be tested over the coming months as well as signalling, braking and acceleration at different speeds in tunnels.

Published by Engineers Australia: www.engineersaustralia.org.au