The metro services are operated byMetro Trains Sydney, a joint venture between MTR Corporation, John Holland and UGL Rail, and are operated by driverless, single deck trains, stopping at 13 stations along the Sydney Metro Northwest. Since July 2019, services take 37 minutes from end to end, at a frequency of every four minutes during peak hours and every ten minutes at all other times. Prior to that, for the first few weeks after opening, the line operated once every five minutes during the peak hours until it was increased to every 4 minutes.
In the first six months of operations, the metro service was supplemented by a late night bus service known as North West Night Bus, stopping at 13 bus stops in close proximity to these stations. The bus service operated Sunday to Wednesday nights after about 9.30 pm in both directions, charging metro fares and frequency of every ten minutes. This is because during this period, the last metro services on these nights were 10.05 pm from Chatswood and 9.25 pm from Tallawong. The bus service was temporary and it was withdrawn six months later on 5 November 2019, when the metro reaches full operations. The bus service was jointly operated by Transdev NSW and Hillsbus, both of whom previously jointly operated the Station Link services between September 2018 and May 2019.
Stations
The service serves 13 stations, including 5 that were previously served by Sydney Trains' Northern Line services.
Criticisms
The service has been criticised due to the high number of failures it has experienced since its opening in May 2019. Most of these failures have been due to mechanical issues on the Alstom Metropolis sets used on this line.
When the line first opened, the trains struggled to stop at the correct position at each station, having edge forward or backward after coming to a complete stop. The train would sometimes overcorrect and need to make further adjustments, which sometimes took several minutes. These issues were mostly fixed after a month, but there are still occasional errors made by the software.
There were some reports of trains malfunctioning and failing to open doors at some stations on opening day.
The doors closing announcements are too soft and cannot be heard from the platform. This has led to several incidents where children were separated from their parents by closing doors.
Trains frequently experience mechanical issues, unable to move after stopping at a station.
The self-driving software does not drive the train smoothly. It consistently overshoots when accelerating up to track speed and requires some braking to maintain track speed. This can be felt by passengers standing at the front of the train near the driving controls, where inertia can be felt when leaning on the driving controls cabinet.
