$1 billion contract to construct tunnel portals on the Melbourne Metro project signed
Victorian Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan, has marked the start of construction at the Parkville station site while also announcing Spring Street has signed the final contract to deliver the Metro Tunnel project.
The Rail Infrastructure Alliance contract has a value of $1 billion that covers the construction of the eastern and western portals that connect the tunnel and surface tracks.
A consortium of John Holland, CPB Contractors and AECOM have been selected as the preferred bidders to deliver the RIA package.
On top of construction of the dive structures in South Yarra and Kensington, the appointed consortium will be responsible for rolling out the new high capacity signaling system between Tottenham and the Western Portal as well as between Caulfield and the Eastern Portal according to the original contract scope.
The RIA also includes works on train lines out in the suburbs to maximise the benefits of the Metro Tunnel and take full advantage of the extra capacity it creates.
Public spaces near the eastern tunnel portal, including South Yarra Siding Reserve, Lovers Walk and Osborne Street Reserve, will be rejuvenated as part of these works before being returned to the local community once tunnel entrance works are complete.
Spring Street media release
The 'works on train lines out in the suburbs' referred to above, according to the tender's original scope, relate to construction an extra platform at West Footscray, adding driver amenities at Oakleigh, improvements to the Frankston line tracks between Caulfield and South Yarra and the construction of rail network redundancy crossovers in the vicinity of the eastern and western tunnel portals.
Construction underway at the Parkville station site is focused on creating underground support structures to enable further excavation to occur. Approximately 200,000 cubic metres of rock and soil will eventually be removed to create the Parkville station pit below Grattan Street.
The other major contracts that have been signed related to early works which have been ongoing since 2016 and the primary civil, build-and-operate contract that relates to creating the tunnel and stations.
The Premier visited the manufacturing site for the TBMs on a recent trade mission to China in late May.
Outside the scope of the Metro Tunnel project but related to its operations, the Victorian Government has also signed a $2 billion contract to build a dedicated fleet of trains for the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Sunbury lines as well as signing a $1 billion rail systems alliance contract which will see a modern communications-based train control high capacity signaling system on track between Watergardens and Dandenong.
According to the Minister for Public Transport, the new tunnel and associated extra capacity created on other lines, the Metro Tunnel project will create room for a further 100,000 peak passenger trips each weekday.
Early works on the tunnel portals will begin later this year.