The Sydney Metro Northwest rail project is on target to be delivered at least $500 million under budget, with the final piece of track laid ahead of services starting in the first half of 2019.
The last 52.5km section of track has been installed at Bella Vista where the skytrain takes to the sky above the North West.
“This is another huge step forward in delivering new metro rail to Sydney next year, revolutionising how we get around our great city,” Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said.
“The major contracts for Sydney Metro Northwest were awarded in 2013 and 2014, and the project budget was set at $8.3 billion.
Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Andrew Constance, said, “Project costs are constantly refined during the construction process and, through good management, we’ve been able to realise significant savings – which will be used to deliver the $20 billion-plus Sydney Metro expansion.
“Sydney’s new metro trains will be running up and down these tracks every four minutes in the peak, changing life forever for the people of the booming North West.
“From here, fast metro rail will be extended into the Sydney CBD and beyond to Bankstown in 2024 – all up, 31 metro stations.”
Over the past 22 months, 105km of steel rail was installed in the twin 15km tunnels between Bella Vista and Epping, on the four kilometre skytrain between Bella Vista and Rouse Hill, and at Sydney Metro HQ at Rouse Hill.
There were also 60,498 sleepers installed, 35,000 tonnes of ballast and 237,000 tonnes of concrete used in the track laying process alone.
On average, 300m of track was laid underground a week.
Sydney Metro Northwest services start in the first half of 2019.
