AUSTRALIA: Transport for New South Wales has awarded Laing O’Rourke a A$955m contract to build the Sydney Metro platforms and concourse at Central station.
The work covers the excavation and construction of underground platforms beneath platforms 13 and 14 of the main line station. A 19 m wide underground concourse from Chalmers Street, called Central Walk, is to be built as part of the work, and escalators are to be installed for access to platforms 12 to 23. John McAslan + Partners and Woods Bagot are the architectural partners. TfNSW expects the 270 000 passengers a day that use the station to rise to 450 000 in the next 20 years.
Completion of the work is expected in 2022, ahead of the opening of the second phase of the metro, planned to take place in 2024. This 30 km alignment is intended to link Chatswood with Bankstown via the city centre. TfNSW expects the first of five tunnel boring machines to be in place by the end of 2018 to start boring the twin 15·5 km tunnels between Chatswood and Sydenham.
