Terrifying moment carriage doors are left wide open as Sydney train hurtles 100km/h through tunnel and commuters stand metres from death
Passengers on Australia’s newest rail line endured a hair-raising trip when the doors in one carriage failed to close as the train sped along the tracks.
The Sydney Metro service was travelling between the Chatswood and Crows Nest stations about 8am on Wednesday when a digital sign above the exit displayed a message reading: ‘This door is out of service.’
Footage from inside the carriage showed passengers looked tense as the tunnel wall raced by the open doors at speeds of 100km/h, as the opening was blocked by two rail staff members with radios and earpieces.
Daniel Williams, CEO of Metro Trains Sydney, said the door malfunction was detected by the control room who contacted the train and two staff were sent to the carriage.
‘There (were a) Customer Journey Coordinator and (a) Customer Operations Lead on board the service,’ Mr Williams said.
‘They were contacted by our Operational Control Centre. They tried to remotely fix the issue.
‘When this was unsuccessful, the OCC (Operations Control Centre) instructed the frontline staff to manually close the door.’
Mr Williams said the two staff members stood between commuters and the doors until the train arrived at the station ‘to complete its short journey’.
The doors remained open on a carriage on the Sydney Metro service between Chatswood and Crows Nest on Wednesday morning
Staff stood in front of the doors as the train sped through a tunnel at 100km/h
‘The door was able to be closed at the next station, and the metro removed from service,’ he said.
‘We apologise to customers for the concern this caused.’
The $25billion Metro is Australia’s first driverless train line which stretches from Tallawong, in Sydney’s northwest, through the CBD and to Bankstown in the southwest.
When completed it will have 21 newly built modern stations and run 52km.
Driverless train lines are becoming common in many countries, although supervising staff still travel on board.
Sydney Metro is one of the longest passenger-carrying automated train lines in the world behind the Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia.
Mining company Rio Tinto operates the longest automated train line at 1,700km in WA but it only carries freight.
