Source : the age
A $9 billion contract for building part of the Suburban Rail Loop and operating the train line is set to be awarded to a consortium including construction giant John Holland, in what would be the largest deal of its kind for the project yet.
Two sources told The Age that TransitLinX – a group of companies comprising John Holland, RATP Dev, Alstom, KBR and WSP – is the preferred bidder for the “linewide” contract of the SRL East, a $34.5 billion underground rail line between Cheltenham and Box Hill.
A Suburban Rail Loop construction site in Heatherton. Credit: Justin McManus
The contract, under which the companies will be tasked with building the trains used on the line, operating and maintaining the network and fitting out the tunnels, is expected to be worth at least $8 billion to $9 billion.
TransitLinX will now begin the process of negotiating and finalising the details of the contract with the Allan government. The contract is to be signed by the end of this year.
The second group that was shortlisted in the process, UrbanLeap, included companies Gamuda Engineering, Keolis Downer, Siemens, AECOM, GHD, Hyundai Rotem and Downer Rail.
Premier Jacinta Allan.Credit: Penny Stephens
Two tunnelling contracts for the project have already been signed and are valued at $3.6 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. Another two contracts to build stations along the railway line have not been awarded.
Moving ahead with the biggest contract on the project to date will reaffirm Premier Jacinta Allan’s commitment to the project, despite opposition calls for her government to cancel, and uncertainty over whether new taxes and Commonwealth funding will be enough to pay for two-thirds of the project as expected.
After the federal election, Allan sought to tie the Suburban Rail Loop to Labor’s success in Victoria and insisted the project had community support.
