A view of part of a 120m-long rail string laid out on sleepers. Photo: Sydney Metro
The first tracks have been laid at Luddenham, south of Penrith, for the new Western Sydney Airport line.
The 23-kilometre-long Sydney Metro railway will connect to the new international airport.
The first portion of track was installed at Luddenham just north of a new rail bridge that will take metro services over the future M12 motorway.
Track laying is currently moving north towards St Marys, west of Blacktown.
According to Sydney Metro, a team of up to 60 workers can lay 70-100 metres of track per day.
More than 6400 tonnes of Australian-made rail will be laid along the 23-kilometre line between St Marys and Bradfield up to mid-2026.
A total of 106.8km of rail line and 76,285 sleepers will be installed, including at a stabling and maintenance facility at Orchard Hills.
Each 20-metre length of rail steel is made in South Australia, shipped to Newcastle then trucked to a new rail laydown yard in Luddenham South.
At the yard, the steel is welded together into 120-metre-long “rail strings” then taken to a site along the alignment for installation.
Sydney Metro says a rail threader machine lifts the rail strings on top of sleepers and the two are fastened together.
The track is then lifted into its final position and a final concrete pour secures the track in place.
REPLICA ON SHOW
Meanwhile, a full-size replica of the new train for the new airport line has already been unveiled.
Assembled from a flat pack in a Western Sydney warehouse, the carriage mock-up allowed all involved to evaluate its design and features including those with limited mobility and senses.
Production has begun on 12 new trains while designs for the six new metro stations on the line have just been finalised.
Once operational, the line will be able to move up to 7740 passengers in an hour each way between St Marys and Bradfield via the new airport.
