Australia's biggest public transport project opens first stage

The North West Metro officially opened on Sunday 26 May, the first completed stage of the Sydney Metro – Australia’s biggest public transport project.

The Sydney Metro Northwest project is the first fully-automated metro rail system in Australia.

John Holland as part of the TJHD Consortium (Theiss, John Holland and Dragados) won the Tunnel and Station Civil Works contract worth $1.15 billion.

“More than a thousand men and women from John Holland worked on this city-shaping project. Sydney Metro is a testament to their imagination, their determination and their hard work,” John Holland CEO Joe Barr said.

They have constructed twin 15 kilometre tunnels between Bella Vista and Epping.

The consortium helped deliver five new stations and two service facilities. They also provided detailed design, construction and handover of the running tunnels, cross passages, nozzle enlargements, connections, excavations and civil works.

Subsequent to the tunnel and civil works contract, the Northwest Rapid Transit consortium (John Holland, MTR Corporation, Leighton Contractors and UGL Rail Services) have procured the rolling stock, built, financed and will operate the Sydney Metro Northwest’s 36 kilometre metro train service.

This involves operating and maintaining the train service for 15 years.

“As part of Metro Trains Sydney, the operator of the trains, we are excited to ensure the highest level of service for customers catching Sydney Metro Northwest. This is the second major rail service to launch this year that John Holland will operate, after the opening of Canberra Metro in April,” Mr Barr said.

The project also involved the delivery of a stabling and maintenance depot, eight new railway stations, car parking facilities and the installation of signalling, mechanical and electrical systems.

The track work included the construction of 23 kilometres of new rail network and upgrades for the 13 kilometres of the existing network between Epping and Chatswood.

The North West Metro is a fully accessible railway and each of the 13 stations have platform screen doors for added safety.

The project began in 2011 and had a total project value of $8.3 billion dollars.

At full operation trains will run every four minutes in each direction at peak times with the ability to run every two minutes in the future.

The Metro line is also currently being extended from Chatswood to Bankstown. By 2024 Sydney will have 31 metro stations and a 66 kilometre standalone metro railway.

“I am so excited that our hard work and discipline has paid off with this rail line opening on time and more than $1 billion under budget. More than 22,000 people have worked on this important project since 2011 and I want to thank each of them for helping to connect Sydney’s North West like never before,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.