NSW awards $2B tunnelling contract for Sydney Metro West

(Photo by Zichuan Han from Pexels)

The Gamuda Australia and Laing O’Rourke Consortium have won a $2.16 billion contract to deliver the next stage of tunnelling on the Sydney Metro West project.

As part of the Western Tunnelling contract, the companies will deliver nine kilometres of twin metro rail tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead.

It will also include construction of a Tunnel Boring Machine launch site at Rosehill, a services facility and crossover structure at Rosehill to allow provision for fresh air ventilation and emergency egress, a tunnel portal and dive excavation at Clyde Services and Maintenance Facility, with supporting earthworks.

Excavation and civil works will be undertaken for Parramatta and Westmead Stations, and a segment manufacturing facility at Eastern Creek will be built to manufacture more than 60,000 tunnel segments.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said this once in a century infrastructure investment will link new communities to rail services, slash travel times across the network and support employment growth.

“These tunnels mean you’ll be able to get from Parramatta to the Sydney CBD in around 20 minutes on a fast, safe and reliable driverless metro train, forever changing how we move around Sydney,” Perrottet said.

“Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, transforming Sydney for generations to come,” he said.

It is the second major tunnelling package awarded on the city-shaping project, with work already underway to deliver twin tunnels between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park following the contract awarded to Acciona Ferrovial Joint Venture last year.

Transport and Veterans Minster David Elliott said major civil works have now commenced at the Bays, with tunnelling set to commence later this year towards Sydney Olympic Park.