Sydney Metro awards second tunnelling contract

The Gamuda Australia and Laing O’Rourke Consortium has been awarded the Western Tunnelling contract to deliver 9km of twin metro rail tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead.

This is the second major tunnelling package awarded on the project, with 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. 

Major civil works have now started at The Bays, with tunnelling set to begin 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 Western Tunnelling contract includes:

• Twin 9km tunnels from Sydney Olympic Park to Westmead;
• A TBM launch site at Rosehill, tunnelling 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

Tunnelling on this Western package is expected to start in late 2023 and the contract should be completed by the end of 2025.

The contract for the third of the project’s tunnelling packages – the Eastern tunnelling between The Bays and Hunter St in Sydney’s CBD – is expected 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).

Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD. It will reduce commuting times to around 20 minutes between the two centres, link new communities to rail services, and support employment growth and housing supply.