The state government of New South Wales (NSW) has chosen a consortium of Australian and Chinese firms to deliver the operations, trains and systems package for the US$7.8bn North West Rail Link (NWRL). When work gets under way next year, it will be Australia’s largest transport project.
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The train line will be the first fully automated rapid transit system in Australia. It will include eight stations and offer a peak-time service of one train every five minutes. The NSW government estimates that it will be needed to cater to the population of north-west Sydney, which is expected to increase from 400,000 people to more than 600,000 over the next 20 years or so.
The project includes the construction of Australian’s longest rail tunnels: these will be twin shafts stretching the 15km between Bella Vista and Epping.
http://nwrail.transport.nsw.gov.au/
The Northwest Rapid Transit Consortium (NRT) consists of the MTR Corporation, which runs Hong Kong’s metro, Australian contractors John Holland and Leighton, Melbourne rail engineer UGL and Australian finance house Plenary Group. Plenary is the financial sponsor and capital arranger for the scheme.
NRT was today chosen over the rival TransForm consortium, made up of Bombardier Transportation, John Laing Investments, Macquarie Capital, McConnell Dowell Constructors, Serco Group and SNC-Lavalin Capital…
Read the rest of the article at GCR
