MTR awards more WIL, XRL contracts

MTR Corporation has awarded more contracts on the West Island Line (WIL) and Express Rail Link (XRL) projects, and also appointed a new projects director.

Gammon Construction has won the second tunnelling contract on WIL in Hong Kong to be awarded by MTR Corporation. The HK$1.344bn (US$173M) contract calls for construction of Kennedy Town station and Overrun Tunnel (Contract 705).

One of Gammon’s joint owners, Balfour Beatty, said the contract aims to achieve new standards in noise reduction and dust suppression in construction works in Hong Kong.

The first tunnel contract on WIL was signed in October last year between MTR and a joint venture of Dragages, Maeda and Bachy Soletanche Group. The JV was awarded the HK$1.6bn (US$206M) job – Contract 703 – to build the section between Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun stations.

WIL will extend 3km from the existing Sheung Wan station to Kennedy Town and is to be finished in 2014. The third, and final, tunnel contract on the project is Contract 704 between Sai Ying Pun and Kennedy Town which is due to be awarded in the first quarter of this year.

On the Hong Kong section of the XRL project, MTR has called for prequalification of contractors to bid for the West Kowloon Terminus Station South section of the scheme (Contract 810B). Deadline for submissions is 29 January, and tenders for cut and cover works are due in the second quarter..

The adjacent section of cut and cover works, for the approach tunnels to West Kowloon station, are at tender stage and the award of the north and south sections (Contracts 811A, 811b) are expected in Q2.

The contract for dust monitoring during construction of XRL was awarded to Arup late last year. The job (Contract 8205) is valued at approximately HK$4.74M (US$0.6M).

The section of XRL in Mainland China, between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, is due to commence operations next year. The approximately 26km long tunnelled section of the twin-tube link in Hong Kong is to be completed by 2015.

The company has named Chew Tai-Chong to be projects director from the beginning of this month, succeeding Russell Black who retires. Chew previously worked with Bombardier Transportation and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA). Black has been projects director since 1992.