Turner & Townsend wins bid for Sydney Metro West

Engineering and project management firm Turner & Townsend has extended its collaboration with the Sydney Metro Authority, this time winning a contract to support the Sydney Metro West (SMW) Project

The UK-headquartered global professional services firm will leverage its project and programme management expertise to support Sydney’s mega project with a range of services, including capital cost planning, risk management, schedule management, as well as cost planning for operations and maintenance of the metro.

Plans for Sydney Metro West are being put in place. The 24 kilometre metro corridor will connect Westmead with the Sydney Central Business District (CBD) via two underground channels, and is expected to reduce the transit time between the two stations to 20 minutes.

The metro line is aimed at serving a burgeoning Western Sydney population, which is estimated to exceed 3 million people by 2036. To serve this growing population, the corridor is expected to cover new stations at Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock and The Bays Precinct.

The new stations combined with the reduced transit time is expected to double the current capacity of the network. The project is one of many infrastructural developments currently being undertaken across Australia, as the country looks to upgrade its infrastructure and evolve in tandem with a changing business landscape.

Sydney is a particularly vibrant business landscape, and the growing volume of inhabitants is likely to put increasing pressure on infrastructure in the city. Where Western Sydney is expected to have 3 million inhabitants over the next fifteen years or so, Sydney’s population is expected to surpass eight million by 2050. Experts have suggested that infrastructure in the city needs to be improved to meet this growth, with some even suggesting the establishment of an additional CBD.

The Sydney Metro network itself is an example of infrastructure at scale, drawing billions of dollars in investment to become the most substantial public transport development in the country.

Turner & Townsend is not new to Sydney Metro, having provided project management services for the Northwest project that was established last year.

Darren Munton, Director of Infrastructure across Australia & New Zealand at Tuner & Townsend, on the win: “We were incredibly proud to play a significant role in the success of Sydney Metro Northwest’s opening in 2019, delivered $1 billion under budget. Our relationship with Sydney Metro and Transport for NSW extends over a decade and is testament to a collaborative working environment focused on high quality outcomes and exceptional standards of service.”