Sydney Monorail travels through the City and winds its way above Chinatown, the Spanish Quarter, over Sydney's main street, George Street, takes you through the shopping heart of the City. The Monorail then travels past the historic Queen Victoria Building to the entertainment and dining precinct of Darling Harbour.

Stopping at all of Sydney's best attractions, Sydney Monorail is the perfect combination of easy transport and an essential Sydney experience.

The Metro Monorail (formerly Sydney Monorail, and originally TNT Harbourlink) is a single-loop Von Roll MkIII monorail which connects Darling Harbour, Chinatown and the Sydney central business and shopping districts. There are eight stations on 3.6 km of track, with four trains operating simultaneously. Major attractions and facilities such as the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre are served.

History
What was initially known as the Darling Harbour Monorail was first conceived in the mid 1980s as part of the redevelopment of 50 hectares of land at Darling Harbour, providing a passenger link with the Sydney CBD. The operators TNT Harbourlink (part of transport group TNT) hoped to have the monorail ready by the Australian Bicentenary celebrations of 26 January 1988, but the opening did not take place until 21 July 1988.[1] Nevertheless, the complete design and construction period of 26 months was an extraordinarily short one. Test services commenced in May 1988.

The original operation hours were to be 6:00am to midnight, but after two years of operation patronage counts were half those expected, and planned stations at Market Street (to be named Casino, as part of the gaming venue planned to be built on the site) and Harbour Street (to be named Gardenside) were not built for some time.

The monorail is now operated for Metro Transport Sydney by Veolia, who also operates the Sydney Metro Light Rail.

Each station stop takes 40 seconds, including the time to decelerate, board passengers, and accelerate again. A complete circuit of the route takes 12 minutes, and the total capacity of the system is 5000 passengers per hour. It was originally intended for the system to operate automatically, but after a number of breakdowns soon after opening, it was decided to retain drivers, who occupy the first car of each train.

Stations

• Darling Park (originally planned to be named Casino, however the Sydney Harbour Casino/Star City was eventually built in Pyrmont)
  
• City Centre (temporary station in operation from opening until mid-1989, during construction of the City Centre Shopping Arcade. The temporary station was partially suspended above Pitt Street)
  
• Galeries Victoria (originally named Park Plaza, proposed to be originally named Town Hall. Temporary entrance provided from opening until 2000 - station incorporated into the new adjacent building)
  
• World Square (proposed to be originally named City South. Temporary station in operation from late 1988 until 2005 - station rebuilt and incorporated into the new adjacent building)
  
• Chinatown (formerly named Garden Plaza, proposed to be originally named Darling Walk, then proposal changed to Gardenside. Station was closed from 26 July 2004 until 18 December 2006)
  
• Paddy's Market (formerly named Powerhouse Museum, and originally named Haymarket)
  
• Convention
  
• Harbourside