Engineering, Passenger Rail, Rolling stock & Rail Vehicle Design

Three shortlisted for Gold Coast Stage 2

Tram stopped at Southport South on the Gold Coast Light Rail. Photo: Creative Commons / David Ansen

Three consortia have been shortlisted to deliver the second stage of the Gold Coast’s light rail network.

Minister for transport and the Commonwealth Games Stirling Hinchcliffe on December 24 announced the Request for Tender for the 7.3km extension had resulted in a trio of shortlisted bidders:

  • Leighton Contractors
  • John Holland Queensland
  • GamesLinq (a joint venture of Downer EDI Works and BMD Constructions)

The planned extension will run from the existing light rail line at the Gold Coast University Hospital, to the Helensvale heavy railway station and bus interchange.

Hinchcliffe said the government looked forward to choosing from “among the industry’s best”. He said the state was hoping to receive three “value for money bids,” and assurances that the line can be constructed in time for use during the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“The 12 week competitive tender phase was an interactive process designed to maximise innovation, time-saving and design development with more than 80 meetings held with tenderers, including 27 interactive workshops, and more than 260 formal answers and 3,000 project documents supplied to the tenderers,” he said.

“Stage 2 is a vital infrastructure project for the state that is expected to generate 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.”

John Witheriff – chairman of GoldLinQ, the consortium which delivered and now operates stage one of the light rail line – said his team would now evaluate the detailed proposals against a range of criteria to ensure a well-informed decision is made.

“Following GoldLinQ’s rigorous evaluation process and recommendation to the Queensland Government the announcement of the successful tenderer is expected to be made by April 2016, with construction commencing shortly after,” Witheroff detailed.

The selected bidder will be required to engage with local individuals and businesses to work on the project, the government said. The final cost of Stage 2 will not be known until GoldLinQ has completed the competitive tender process, it added.