The long-awaited opening of Sydney’s newest metro line has been postponed indefinitely. The driverless trains were due to start carrying passengers on the Chatswood to Sydenham line... On Sunday. But after thousands of hours of testing, there are still safety tests yet to be completed and signed-off on by the national regulator
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00:00All dressed up but nowhere to go, Sydney's shiny new metro stations will sit empty for
00:07the foreseeable future.
00:09I'm putting safety ahead of popping champagne corks.
00:13Five days before the metro was due to start running under the harbour, commuters have
00:17been slapped with an indefinite delay.
00:19It's kind of like disappointing.
00:21There's not much you can do.
00:22You have to wait and see.
00:26More than 11,000 hours of trial runs and testing have taken place over the past few months.
00:32The government insists it has no safety concerns, just paperwork to be signed off.
00:38We are fit.
00:40We are ready.
00:41We are on the blocks.
00:42But we have to wait a little bit longer for the starter's gun.
00:46But the minister conceded a scare on the line at Epping two weeks ago, coupled with the
00:50firefighters union refusing to take part in training drills are partly to blame.
00:56Authorities say around 200 training exercises have already taken place across the metro
01:01line, including evacuation drills and familiarisation activities, but after safety concerns were
01:08raised by firefighters, they say four more exercises were needed this week.
01:13Unfortunately, it's not a situation where you complete the exercise, you hand the paperwork
01:19to ONSRA and they just say, thanks very much, here's the tick.
01:22You need to make sure there's time for them to make their independent assessment.
01:27Once bitten, twice shy, the minister wouldn't say how much longer Sydneysiders will need
01:33to wait.
01:34We are very, very close.
01:35We just need a little extra time.
01:38You have to wonder whether the minister has any idea herself when this metro will open.
01:43The question on everyone's mind.