The NSW government is refusing to release documents that could show when the final stage of Sydney’s $30 billion M1 metro line will open, deepening uncertainty for south-west Sydney commuters who have spent months on replacement buses.

Transport for NSW rejected a freedom of information application from the Herald for papers related to the Metro Southwest project’s targeted opening date, citing cabinet information and an overriding public interest against disclosure. One of the documents sought was created in April and dealt with go-live readiness for the final section of the line.

The refusal lands at a time when tens of thousands of commuters are still being forced onto replacement buses every day between Sydenham and Bankstown, after the T3 heavy rail line was shut in September 2024 to complete the final 13-kilometre section of the M1 line. The government has repeatedly declined to name a target opening date, saying only that the line would open in the second half of this year.

That uncertainty has built on years of shifting messages. In mid-2018, the former government told commuters the line would need to be closed for between three and six months. Before the shutdown in September 2024, the current government warned the closure might last longer than its earlier estimate of a 12-month shutdown.

Cate Faehrmann said the government was abusing the cabinet-in-confidence process by keeping the documents secret. She said the least it could do was be honest with residents about when the metro line would open. John Graham said south-west Sydney residents had shown great patience as the government worked to reopen the old Bankstown rail line as the newest addition to Sydney Metro.

For Bankstown resident Keshminder Purva, the delay has changed the rhythm of the working week. She catches replacement buses six days a week and said her trip to work is now well over an hour each way because she walks 30 minutes to Bankstown station, takes a replacement bus to Sydenham and then trains into the CBD. Before the closure, she said, the same trip took about 50 minutes.

“Why keep it a secret? They should let the public know,” Purva said. She said the metro should be running sometime this year, but nobody knows the end date. “Some people predict September [and] others predict it could be in October, if not next year,” she said.

Regular commuter Uzair Saeed also called for the target date to be disclosed, saying, “They should have some dates. This has happened for the last two years,” while Liberal transport spokesman Scott Farlow accused the government of showing contempt for commuters by refusing to provide detail on the opening date.

The dispute now turns on a narrow but consequential question: whether papers on the opening date are really cabinet information, or whether commuters who have already endured months of delays should be told when the line will finally reopen. The government has said it will announce a date only when it is confident it can deliver on that date. Until then, the buses keep running and the answer remains out of public view.