Three consortia shortlisted to deliver the final piece of tunnelling for Sydney Metro West

Sydney-Metro-West

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Sydney Metro today shortlisted three consortia to deliver the final piece of tunnelling for Sydney Metro West into the heart of the Sydney CBD.

The consortia have been shortlisted to deliver the Eastern Tunnelling package which includes 3.5km of twin tunnels under Sydney Harbour between The Bays and the Sydney CBD and the excavation of Pyrmont and Hunter Street stations.

The shortlist includes:

  • Acciona Construction Australia Pty Ltd & Ferrovial Construction (Australia) Pty Ltd joint venture (AF JV);
  • Bouygues Construction Australia Pty Ltd, Vinci Construction Grands Projets Australia Pty Ltd & Soletanche Bachy International joint venture (BV JV); and
  • John Holland Pty Ltd, CPB Contractors Pty Ltd & Ghella Pty Ltd joint venture (JCG JV).

The Eastern Tunnelling package will see tunnel boring machines cross under Johnstons Bay alongside the Anzac Bridge, before heading to the new Pyrmont station and then down and under Darling Harbour before reaching Hunter Street in the heart of the CBD, in between Wynyard and Martin Place.

Sydney Metro West is a new 24-kilometre metro line with stations confirmed at Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock, The Bays, Pyrmont and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD.

Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, with a target travel time of about 20 minutes between the two centres.

The project will deliver metro rail to new parts of Sydney, cut crowding on three major train lines and take tens of thousands of cars off the roads every day. The project is expected to create about 10,000 direct and 70,000 indirect jobs during construction.

Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are part of the $1.96 billion Central Tunnelling Package awarded in July to the Acciona Ferrovial Joint Venture, which has contracted world-leading manufacturer Herrenknecht to design, build and deliver the TBMs following a global tender process.

The Eastern Tunnelling Package contract is expected to be awarded by the end of 2022.

The scope of works for the Eastern Tunnelling Package is subject to further development and planning approval and is expected to include:

• approximately 2.5 kilometre twin metro railway tunnels between The Bays and Hunter Street station sites, including mined cross passages;

• excavation of a mined crossover cavern at the east of The Bays station site;

• Pyrmont station mined cavern excavation, including two station shafts and associated adits and nozzle enlargements, including temporary ground support;

• Hunter Street station mined cavern excavation, including two station shafts and associated adits and nozzle enlargements, including temporary ground support; and

• turnback tunnels and mined caverns to the east of Hunter Street (Sydney CBD) station site.

At Pyrmont and Hunter Street station sites, works will also include:

• demolition of all existing buildings/structures on the four station shaft sites (two at Pyrmont and two at Hunter Street);

• the provision of cast in situ concrete linings for all mined station caverns, adits and nozzle enlargements; and

• ancillary works including utility services works and minor road works.

Due to the scale of this city-shaping mega project the tunnelling and excavation works have been separated into geographically-specific contract packages between Westmead and the Sydney CBD.

Acciona Ferrovial JV was awarded the Central Tunnelling Package after a competitive tender process. The Western Tunnelling Package will be awarded shortly.

Work on Sydney Metro West started at The Bays in 2020, with mega tunnel boring machines to be in the ground before the end of this year.

Sydney Metro West is on track to be completed in 2030.

Source: NSW Government, Sydney Metro

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