SYDNEY Metro has awarded two contracts worth a combined $A 2.7bn ($US 1.9bn) for tunnelling on two sections of the Sydney metro project.

The 24km Sydney Metro West project will connect Greater Parramatta and Sydney city centre, while the 23km Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport project will link St Marys to the centre of a new aerotropolis via the new Western Sydney International Airport, with six stations.

The Gamuda Australia and Laing O’Rourke Consortium has been awarded a $A 2.16bn contract to deliver a 9km dual-bore metro rail tunnel between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead.

The contract also includes:

  • a tunnel boring machine launch site at Rosehill, tunnelling first toward Sydney Olympic Park before launching from Rosehill toward Westmead
  • excavation for a services facility and crossover structure at Rosehill to allow provision for fresh air ventilation and emergency egress
  • the tunnel portal and dive excavation at Clyde services and maintenance facility
  • earthworks, retaining structures, drainage and utilities corridor for the Clyde facility
  • excavation and civil works for Parramatta and Westmead Stations, and
  • a segment manufacturing facility at Eastern Creek to produce more than 60,000 segments.

The contract is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

The contract is the second major tunnelling package awarded on the project, with work already underway to deliver a dual-bore tunnel between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park after a contract was awarded to the Acciona Ferrovial joint venture last year.

Major civil works on the first tunnel have started at The Bays, with tunnelling towards Sydney Olympic Park set to begin later this year. Work to prepare the site with piling rigs for tunnel boring machines is well under way.

Sydney Metro has also awarded CPB Contractors and United Infrastructure (CPBUI) a $A 538.5m contract to build a 10.4km section of the Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport project.

The contract includes 3.5km of elevated viaduct at Orchard Hills and Luddenham, 6.7km of earthworks for track formation, a 190m-long rail bridge over the new M12 motorway, a 20m-long rail bridge within the airport, temporary and permanent access roads, and bulk earthworks for the stabling and maintenance facility site.

Work will begin in the coming months.

CPB Contractors and Ghella were awarded a $A 1.8bn contract in December 2021 to deliver 9.8km of new dual-bore metro rail tunnels for the Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport project.

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