WA has shortlisted three consortia for the contract to build the $2 billion Forrestfield-Airport rail line, leaving two candidates out of the process.
The three shortlisted consortia are:
- JHL JV – John Holland and Leighton Contractors
- SI-NRW JV – Salini Impregilo and NRW
- Forrestfield Connect – ACCIONA Infrastructure, BAM International and Ferrovial Agroman
Five consortia were reported in late March as having submitted “strong” Expressions of Interest. Two of those five were not shortlisted:
- Connecting Forrestfield – Lend Lease and Ghella
- CRCC-BGC-VDM JV – China Railway Construction Corporation, BGC and VDM
The three shortlisted candidates will now respond to a Request for Proposal for the project, WA minister for transport Dean Nalder said on Thursday.
“The level of interest in designing and constructing this transformational rail line to Perth’s foothills via the Perth Airport has been high,” Nalder said.
“The five proposals that were submitted were from leading national and international contractors, but only a maximum of three respondents can progress to the next stage.”
The Request for Proposal put out to the three finalists by Public Transport Victoria will result in three fully-costed proposals, Nalder said.
A contract will be awarded to the winning bidder midway through 2016, and will be a single construct package including tunnel and civil infrastructure, track, stations and rail systems with signalling, communications and power.
Enabling legislation for the project, titled Railway (Forrestfield-Airport Link) Bill 2015, was introduced to WA Parliament last week.
The Forrestfield-Airport Line is a $2bn project to build an 8.5km rail spur from the Midland Line out to Forrestfield via Belmont and Perth Airport.
The new rail line will run underground for 8kms in twin-bored tunnels beneath the Swan River and the airport, a move Nalder says will significantly reduce impacts on the local community and the environment.
If all goes according to plan, first trains are expected to run in 2020.