Big names bid for Australian metro project

Proposals have been submitted by three short-listed consortiums, for the extension of the metro system beneath the city of Melbourne, Australia.

The work – part of the largest public transport project in the city’s history – includes a 9 km tunnel and five new underground stations.

The groups bidding for the project are: Continuum Victoria – a partnership between ACCIONA Infrastructure, Ferrovial Agroman, Honeywell, Downer EDI and Plenary Origination; the Cross Yarra Partnership – comprising Lendlease Engineering, John Holland, Bouygues Construction and Capella Capital; and the Moving Melbourne Together consortium, consisting of Pacific Partnerships, CPB Contractors, Ghella, Salini Impregilo Serco and Macquarie Capital.

The contract is reported to be worth around AU$6 billion (US$4.5 billion), representing the largest single element of the metro project’s total AU$10.9 billion (US$8.2 billion) budget.

A large section of the city square in Melbourne will be hidden beneath an acoustic covering, as preparation work for the excavation of tunnels gets underway. It is expected that the covering will be in place for up to five years.

As many as six tunnel-boring machines will be used on the tunnel, excavating in the region of 2 million m³ of soil and rock.

The government of the state of Victoria has estimated the project will ultimately create some 4,700 jobs.

The metro contract is expected to be awarded before the end of the years, with tunnel excavation set to begin in 2018.