Thiess/John Holland/Dragados to Build Stations and Tunnels for Sydney North West Rail Link

A joint venture between Thiess (50 percent), John Holland (25 percent) and Dragados (25 percent) has been selected by the New South Wales Government to construct the tunnels and excavate new underground stations for Sydney’s visionary North West Rail Link.

Under the $1.15 billion Tunnel and Station Civil Works contract, TJHD will construct twin 15-km tunnels that will run between Bella Vista and Epping. These will be the longest rail tunnels ever built in Australia. The project also includes civil works for five of the eight new stations and two service facilities.

Four custom-made TBMs will be used to construct the 6-m diameter tunnels with the first of the TBMs to be in the ground by the end of next year.

TJHD is hitting the ground running and expects to place orders for the Tunnel Boring Machines within the next few weeks. The team is also gearing up for a proactive community engagement effort to limit disruption and inconvenience while providing information on the long term benefits of the project.

Work will start shortly to prepare the three major tunneling sites at Bella Vista, Showground and Cherrybrook with contract completion scheduled for first quarter 2017.