Joint venture in Australian light rail project
15 February 2016
An Acciona joint venture has agreed a deal to build a 12 km light rail route in Sydney, Australia, worth AUS$ 2.1 billion (US$ 1.5 billion).
The project, said to help reduce congestion, comprises a 12 km track, 19 stops, a bridge over the Eastern Distributor toll road, a tunnel under Moore Park, Control Centre facilities, housing for the light rail vehicles, a maintenance depot, and substations with other service buildings along the route.
The new light rail network will carry up to 15% more passengers during peak hour and provide 33% more seats across the day.
The joint venture, Altrac Light Rail, includes Acciona, Transdev Sydney, Alstom Transport Australia and Capella Capita.
Construction will begin in April this year, with services expected to start operating in early 2019. The new light rail network is expected to provide more than AUS$ 4 billion in benefits to the economy, while creating 10,000 jobs.