Salini Impregilo wins Australia rail contract

Contractor Salini Impregilo has won a AU$ 340 million (US$ 301 million) contract to build a rail viaduct and a second rail bridge in Sydney – the company’s first contract win in Australia.

The project is part of the North West Rail Link and includes construction of a 4.6 km viaduct, dubbed the Skytrain, as well as a 270 m cable-stayed rail bridge over a major arterial road. Covering a total distance of 6.2 km, the contract is scheduled for completion in 2017.

The 37 km North West Rail Link is Australia’s largest public transport infrastructure project currently under construction and the biggest public transport project in Sydney.

The first stage of a new rapid transit network for Sydney, the project includes eight new railway stations and 15 km of tunnels between Bella Vista and Epping.

Expected to cost AU$ 8.3 billion (US$ 7.4 billion), the whole project is scheduled for completion at the end of 2019.

Salini Impregilo said this contract brought the total value of new contracts it had won in 2013 to € 12 billion (US$ 16.4 billion), compared to its initial budget of € 6.4 billion (US$ 8.8 billion).