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Sydney’s $15 Billion New Train Line Is Modern, Fast and Big on TikTok 

Commuters walk at Victoria Cross Station on the new Sydney Metro line in Sydney, Australia, August 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Commuters walk at Victoria Cross Station on the new Sydney Metro line in Sydney, Australia, August 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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Sydney’s $15 Billion New Train Line Is Modern, Fast and Big on TikTok 

Commuters walk at Victoria Cross Station on the new Sydney Metro line in Sydney, Australia, August 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Commuters walk at Victoria Cross Station on the new Sydney Metro line in Sydney, Australia, August 25, 2024. (Reuters)

Australia's largest public transport project has achieved something few urban planners expect: social media fame.

The A$21.6 billion ($15 billion) Sydney Metro line along a major north-southwest artery has featured in hundreds of photos and videos on TikTok and Instagram since it opened in late August.

In one TikTok video viewed more than 600,000 times, young people dance and celebrate on the train station platform holding Sydney Metro signs.

The excitement is in part a response to how modern the new line, with its driverless trains and bright, spacious stations, feels compared to the aging network in which tens of thousands of commuters pour through every day.

At the heart of the new line is Sydney Central, which got A$955 million overhaul to accommodate the new underground line and elevate the 118-year old station to the level of Kings Cross in London or Grand Central in New York.

"It's not something Sydney has really experienced, it's been a bit overdue," said John Prentice, a principal at architecture and design firm Woods Bagot, who led the design of Sydney Central.

"We wanted to provide Sydney a station on par with stations around the world. It needed to rival those other stations but based on its unique qualities and characteristics."

At Gadigal, a new station next to the pre-World War Two city hub Town Hall, commuters descend to the platform on escalators flanked by six columns weighing 168 tons each.

Large murals of train tunnels stand high above commuters at each entrance. The 12.5 meter (14 yard) tall pieces drew inspiration from early Sydney railway tunnels as well those drawn by cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, according to artist Callum Morton.

"You can always tell when something hits," he told Reuters.

"The beauty is on the surface and the sensation you feel in front of it is the most captivating thing... I really wanted to reproduce that feeling."

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Varieties

Strong Storm Lashes Northeast Japan with Torrential Rains, Strong Winds

As disaster risks in the Kyushu region subsided later Thursday, Shanshan started dumping heavy rain on neighboring Shikoku island - (The AP) 
As disaster risks in the Kyushu region subsided later Thursday, Shanshan started dumping heavy rain on neighboring Shikoku island - (The AP) 
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Strong Storm Lashes Northeast Japan with Torrential Rains, Strong Winds

As disaster risks in the Kyushu region subsided later Thursday, Shanshan started dumping heavy rain on neighboring Shikoku island - (The AP) 
As disaster risks in the Kyushu region subsided later Thursday, Shanshan started dumping heavy rain on neighboring Shikoku island - (The AP) 

A strong storm lashed southern Japan with torrential rain and strong winds Thursday, killing severals as it started a crawl up the length of the archipelago and raised concerns of flooding, landslides and extensive damage.

Tropical storm Shanshan made landfall Thursday morning as a powerful typhoon on the southern island of Kyushu and then gradually lost strength, though it was still forecast to bring strong winds, high waves and significant rainfall to most of the country, particularly on Kyushu.

About 60 centimeters (nearly 2 feet) of rain fell in parts of Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu, swelling rivers and threatening floods, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. That 24-hour total was more than the average rainfall for all of August, it said.

By late afternoon Thursday, the storm was moving north at 15 kph (9 mph) and its winds had weakened to 108 kph (67 mph). It is “no longer a powerful typhoon,” the agency said.

As disaster risks in the Kyushu region subsided later Thursday, Shanshan started dumping heavy rain on neighboring Shikoku island, The AP reported.

The storm ripped through downtown Miyazaki city on Kyushu, knocking down trees, throwing cars to the side in parking lots and shattering windows of some buildings. The prefectural disaster management task force said about 50 buildings were damaged.

NHK public television showed a swollen river in the popular hot spring town of Yufu in Oita prefecture, just north of Miyazaki, with muddy water splashing against a bridge.

More than 70 people were injured across Kyushu, mostly in Miyazaki and Kagoshima. Some were injured by being thrown to the ground by the storm on their way to shelters, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

About 168,000 households were without power across Kyushu, most of them in Kagoshima prefecture, Kyushu Electric Power Co. said.

About 20,000 people took shelter at municipal community centers, school gymnasiums and other facilities across Kyushu, according to prefectural reports.

Ahead of the storm's arrival, heavy rain triggered a landslide that buried a house in the central city of Gamagori, killing three residents and injuring two others, the city’s disaster management department said. On the southern island of Amami, which Shanshan passed, one person was injured by being knocked down by a wind gust while riding a motorcycle, the fire agency said.

Weather and government officials are concerned about extensive damage as the storm slowly sweeps up the Japanese archipelago to the northeast over the next few days, threatening more floods and landslides.

In the Tokyo region, Shinkansen bullet trains connecting Tokyo and Osaka were suspended starting Thursday evening due to heavy rain in the central region. Bullet train service also was to be suspended in parts of the western and central regions on Friday.

Disaster Management Minister Yoshifumi Matsumura said Shanshan could cause “unprecedented” levels of violent winds, high waves, storm surges and heavy rain. At a task force meeting on Wednesday, he urged people, especially older adults, not to hesitate and take shelter whenever there is any safety concern.

Hundreds of domestic flights connecting southwestern cities and islands were canceled Thursday, and bullet trains and some local train services were suspended. As the storm headed northeast, similar steps were taken in parts of the main island of Honshu that were experiencing heavy rain. Postal and delivery services were suspended in the Kyushu region, and supermarkets and other stores planned to close.