By Lynda Myer
In order to delivering the next stage of tunneling on the Sydney Metro West project, Sydney Metro has granted a contract with A$2.16bn (US$1.57bn) value.
The Western Tunneling contract for delivering twin metro rail tunnels with 9km length among Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead, has been handed to Gamuda Australia and Laing O’Rourke Consortium.
While this is the second major tunneling package gave over on the project, work already under way to deliver twin tunnels between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park following the contract awarded to Acciona Ferrovial Joint Venture last year.
Commencing main civil works have at The Bays currently, tunneling is slated to start later this year towards Sydney Olympic Park. The site is being prepared for the TBMs, with piling rigs starting work on the launch shafts.
The contents of Western Tunneling contract are:
- Twin 9km tunnels from Sydney Olympic Park to Westmead;
- A TBM launch site at Rosehill, tunneling toward Sydney Olympic Park and relaunched toward Westmead;
- A services facility and crossover structure at Rosehill for fresh air ventilation and emergency egress;
- Tunnel portal and dive excavation at Clyde Services and Maintenance Facility;
- Earthworks, retaining structures, drainage and utilities corridor for the Clyde Maintenance Facility;
- Two spur tunnels connecting the dive structure to the Main tunnel in at Clyde;
- Excavation and civil works for Parramatta and Westmead Stations;
- A segment manufacturing facility at Eastern Creek
The estimated date for beginning the tunneling process on this Western package is late 2023, while the contract should be completed by the end of 2025.
Moreover, the contract for the third of the project’s tunneling packages, which includes the Eastern tunneling between The Bays and Hunter St in Sydney’s CBD, is scheduled to be awarded later this year. The shortlisted consortia are: Acciona Construction Australia and Ferrovial Construction joint venture (AF JV); Bouygues Construction Australia, Vinci Construction Grands Projets Australia and Soletanche Bachy International joint venture (BV JV); and John Holland, CPB Contractors and Ghella joint venture (JCG JV).
Increasing the rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, Sydney Metro West will decrease commuting times to almost 20 minutes between the two centers, link new communities to rail services, and support employment growth and housing supply.
