Shortlist for Sydney greater western metro line 01 Mar 2021

Underground works are split into two sections

Three consortia are shortlisted to bid for delivery of station boxes and 10km of underground infrastructure for the metro link that will service greater western Sydney and the new international airport.

The groups are:

• Bouygues Construction Australia
• John Holland Gamuda Joint Venture
• Acciona Construction Australia

“The civil works contract is expected to be awarded by the end of this year (2021), with the first of an expected four TBMs anticipated to launch by the middle of 2023,” said Andrew Constance, New South Wales State Minister for Transport and Roads. The contract will be awarded on a fixed price design-build basis and the estimated budget for the line and the value of the contract is yet to be disclosed.

The Sydney Metro-Western Sydney Airport project will deliver about 23km of rail and six stations between St Marys Station, as an interchange with existing suburban train services, and the future Western Sydney Aerotropolis Station in Bringelly (Fig 1). The underground works are in two sections of about 4.3km of twin tube excavation from St Marys to a portal at Orchard Hills about 450m south of the M4 western motorway, and for about 6.3km of twin running tunnels from the new airport to Bringelly, with about 3.3km and two underground station of this section under the airport precinct. An elevated section will take the line through an elevated station at Luddenham.

The Australian and New South Wales Governments are jointly delivering the project, which is the next in a major programme of metro system build out for the financial capital and largest city of Australia. The final budget for the project will be confirmed when all major contracts are awarded.

Current and planned metro expansion projects

A generation of driverless metro railway services began operating in 2019 on the 36km Metro North from Tullawang to Chatswood which includes the underground section from Epping to Chatswood. In 2024 services on the 30km City and Southwest Metro extension are due to open, through new underground stations and twin running tunnels under Sydney Harbour and central business district (CBD), and on to Bankstown in the southwest. Construction of the 24km Sydney Metro West, as the next stage of expansion to connect the CBD with Greater Parramatta, is scheduled to start later in 2021 (Fig 2). The companies bidding for the western airport link are also part of different groups bidding for the two Metro West tunnelling contracts.

Expansion of the city’s metro progresses in tandem with major highway infrastructure construction. Much of the new carriageways is also underground with future developments including a new immersed tube across Sydney Harbour and another for Middle Harbour on the North Beaches highway link, and a proposed TBM twin tube excavation for the first stage of the M6.