Sydney Metro has provided an update on the conversion of its Southwest railway line, announcing a delay into 2026.

The operator has cited project complexity due to industrial action placing pressure on all construction and testing programmes as the reason for the scheme’s later completion date.

Despite delays, conversion of the line has recently seen the installation of 360 new platform screen doors, as well as 170 step-like mechanical gap fillers fitted at stations between Marrickville and Bankstown, the latter of which is the first of its kind to be used within Australia, and has been specifically designed to bridge the gap created between both trains and the curved platforms along the Bankstown line.

Installation of the gap fillers & platform screen doors were handled by delivery partners Hyundai Movex and UGL respectively, with both jobs taking a cumulative 500 hours and necessitating the work of 110 workers in order to carry out the work.

The team has also installed a total of 28.3km of new railway fencing along the line over the last 24 months, with 5.8km of segregation fencing installed between Sydenham and Bankstown, and 22.5km of security fencing installed along the boundary of the Southwest metro rail corridor.

Alongside the security fencing is a new, first-of-its-kind intrusion and object detection security system, which utilises fibre optic cables to monitor for both vibrations or breakage.

If triggered, one of 89 CCTV cameras along the rail corridor will be activated, alerting security staff to the location of any potential intrusion.

The Sydney Metro Southwestern railway line aims to introduce a 66-km metro network between the north west corner of Sydney, under the harbour and city’s CBD, and stretching out to Bankstown in the southwest.