The threatened train driver's strike next Monday is in large part an unfortunate reaction to the pressures that are arising as Sydney prepares to accommodate its new metro, which may prove more the triumph of technocratic evangelism and private sector opportunism than a carefully grafted enhancement to a complex system.

The rail system is vital to the functioning of the city and will become even more so as the population grows and condenses. Moving towards a metro-style rail operation allows Sydney to respond to these demands through more services, but the pressures of putting such a system in place have been exacerbated by a high-risk division between Transport for NSW, as it oversees the development of the line and timetable changes, and the hands-on experience of frontline operators who must make the revised system and timetables work.

Expect more of this as Sydney Transport grapples with rising populations and greater urban density. Credit:Ryan Stuart

After two failed attempts to develop a new metro line in Sydney, the North-West Metro represents the right network addition, but with an arguably inappropriate technology for this location and time. I have failed to discover anywhere else where a heavy metro system has been built through what is still a relatively low-density urban area to a location where passengers are forced to change to a suburban rail system to complete their journey.

Adapting the existing North Shore Line for this task has incurred an exorbitant cost in new trains, improved junctions, such as Hornsby, and upgraded signalling that was never costed against the metro. Further costs and extensive disruption stem from converting the Epping to Chatswood route to the metro when it is less than 10 years old and quite fit for purpose.