By rosebell
In order to constructing underground stations for Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East, Place, a consortium of John Holland, Kellogg Brown and Root, and Arup has been announced as the preferred bidder.
Building of the stations at Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill will be up to Place, which has experience on major infrastructure projects, including Metro Tunnel, Sydney Metro, WestConnex and Inland Rail.
Involving elements inspired by the history of the local community and First Nations peoples, the SRL East stations is due to be fully accessible spaces with plazas, retail and dining and each station will have a Green Star sustainability rating of at least five stars.
Currently the detailed negotiations with Place are undergoing, and the scheduled date for awarding Stations Alliance North contract is 2026.
With the aim of building the stations at Clayton and Monash, the two other shortlisted bidders, ESPA and Connexus, will now compete for the second stations contract.
The coming year is determined date for commencing tunneling on SRL East.
The site preparation works, comprising of construction of the TBM launch site for two TBMs, which is going to head south and dig the SRL East twin tunnels between Burwood and Glen Waverley, has recently been completed by contractor Laing O’Rourke.
Now the responsibilit of the site is up to Tunnels North contractor Terra Verde which is building the northern section of the SRL East tunnels, and will now complete final preparations for tunnelling, including construction of acoustic sheds.
In 2026, two TBMs are slated to be commissioned from Burwood towards Glen Waverley, while two more will launch towards Box Hill at a later date. The time of arrival of these machines that are currently under construction, on site is the coming months. Terra Verde will also build the box for the new underground station at the site.
