As it happened: Sydney Metro opening LIVE updates: City’s multibillion-dollar rail line opens to commuters

It’s been a landmark day for the city as the $21.6 billion metro rail line began operations and the first trains took passengers under the Sydney Harbour, ushering in a new era of public transport.

To recap:

• The extended M1 metro from Chatswood to Sydenham opened in the early hours of this morning. Transport Minister Jo Haylen said up to 200,000 people were expected to travel on the extended line under the harbour and central city today.
• About 40,000 people ushered in a new era of public transport in the first five hours. Premier Chris Minns praised former premier Gladys Berejiklian for her vision, while Berejiklian in turn congratulated the thousands of workers who made the new train line a reality.
• In our editorial, the Herald called it a shining moment for the city. Sydney editor Michael Koziol has penned this analysis that said the metro has the potential to transform Sydney, “but it will require more investment, better planning and choices that deliver that outcome”.
• And Nick Newling ranked all the toilets here. It’s news you can use.

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the Sydney Metro opening today. We leave you with this drawing from artist Julie Keech, who captured the historic day from a vantage point at Victoria Cross station.

There’s been a lot of love for the Herald’s transport and infrastructure editor Matt O’Sullivan today, and deservedly so. It’s been a long and rocky journey to get to this point, not to mention a costly one, and Matt has guided readers through all the twists and turns.

He has broken the news and kept the government honest of late with revelations about the last-minute dramas that led to the delayed opening. He was also on board the 4.54am metro train that went under Sydney Harbour and into the history books.

Matt’s feature pieces in the lead-up to today’s opening have also been a joy to read, perhaps none more so than the story published on Friday charting the ups and downs of the decision-making process dating back to 2011.

From the drills shaking up the city so much they shattered glasses, to the agonising over whether to dig under the harbour, to the battle of Waterloo station, it’s a cracking read. You may not be able to get through the whole series while on the speedy metro trains, but if there’s one piece you read today while zipping along, read this.

Reporter Nick Newling was out at Tallawong to catch the 4.38am train into the city, and had a busy morning visiting each of the new stations on the M1.

Along the way, he’s answered the No.1 and No.2 questions: where are the toilets, and how good are they?

Nick has done a loo review: ranking the new facilities from worst to best.

Which one does he describe as making “you feel like you’re taking a minute to yourself during an awkward date at an overpriced restaurant”? Where is the “subterranean escape”? And which station has “black slate floors meet sea-foam tiles in this home away from home”?

More importantly, which station forgot to install hand dryers? And which came out on top?

Read Nick’s review here to find out.

I’m at the Miller Street entrance of Victoria Cross Station in North Sydney, just in time for the craziness of the school rush peak hour.

Students have rushed through the Opal gates, but haven’t gone much further.

The entrance here is lift only, meaning that passengers can’t use an escalator to get down to the platform.

Consequently, there’s been a major bottleneck for the four elevators at Victoria Cross, with transport officials now directing students to the southern entrance, some two blocks down towards the North Sydney CBD, to access the metro.