<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> NSW minister for transport Gladys Berejiklian has announced the preferred bidder for the CBD and South East Light Rail project, and said the winning proposal features more capacity than previously planned. </span> <p>Connecting Sydney was chosen as the preferred bidder late last week by Transport for NSW to deliver the project.<br /><br />Consisting of Transdev Sydney, Alstom Transport Australia, Acciona Infrastructure Australia and Capella Capital, Connecting Sydney proposed a construction that will spend less time working along George Street, and will have greater passenger capacity than the government first proposed.<br /><br />“The preferred bidder’s proposal offers an innovative, world class solution that will deliver a huge win for public transport customers, with reduced crowding on the light rail service and more capacity to cater for future demand,” Berejiklian said.<br /><br />“The proposal offers services that from day one carry up to 15% more light rail passengers in peak hours, and 33% more seats across the day.<br /><br />“As I have said previously, the biggest challenge for this project is meeting the high demand from customers who are expected to choose light rail over buses, private vehicles and other transport options.”<br /><br />Transport for NSW will work with Connecting Sydney over the next few weeks to finalise the major contract, Berejiklian said. The detailed construction program is now subject to further commercial negotiations.<br /><br />Connecting Sydney has proposed using extra construction support staff on the ground, to better manage impacts in the CBD, aimed at causing less disruption for motorists, businesses and CBD workers.<br /><br />Berejiklian said the extra capacity proposed by the consortium has been even more important, since the opening of the Inner West Light Rail extension in March this year. <br /><br />“The Inner West Light Rail extension has proven extremely popular from day one. There have been over 2.3 million trips made on the Inner West Light Rail since the extension opened, a 21% increase compared to last year,” she said. <br /><br />Berejiklian said the CBD and South East Light Rail is expected to generate over $4bn in economic benefits to NSW. It will help remove up to 220 buses an hour from CBD streets, she added.</p>
