Construction, engineering giants line up to build Victoria’s most expensive public transport project

A new rail loop under Melbourne’s middle suburbs will reshape the city, and construction giants are lining up to build the state’s biggest ever public transport project.

Five groups of construction and engineering giants are in the early running to build Victoria’s biggest ever public transport project.

Expressions of interest for major tunnelling contracts for the $30-34.5bn Suburban Rail Loop closed this week, with the 26km line from Cheltenham to Box Hill split into two packages of works.

The primary package is a 16km stretch between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley in Melbourne’s southeast, which is the longest tunnel ever built in Victoria.

The Suburban Rail Loop is the Andrews government’s largest infrastructure project, and will reshape transport, planning and housing in Melbourne’s middle suburbs.

A second contract would be awarded to build the section between Glen Waverley and Box Hill.

The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal that some of the largest construction and engineering firms in the country are vying for the major packages, including Bouygues Construction Australia, CPB Contractors, Acciona Construction, John Holland, Gamuda, Ghella, Samsung, Hyundai Engineering, WeBuild and GS Engineering.

Three of the interested parties will be short-listed for a Request for Proposal phase later this year, with the list then whittled down to two for the awarding of tunnelling contracts next year.

Suburban Rail Loop Minister Jacinta Allan this week visited Clayton to mark the start of early works. Picture: David Crosling

The SRL is the Andrews government’s largest infrastructure project, and will reshape transport, planning and housing in Melbourne’s middle suburbs.

It includes six underground stations and precincts that will link to existing radial rail lines at Southland in Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash University, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill.

The state opposition has said it would assess the project as part of a statewide audit of infrastructure if it wins the November election, to ensure the project represents value for money.

An artist’s impression of Cheltenham Station — the 26km line from Cheltenham to Box Hill has been split into two packages of works.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Suburban Rail Loop Minister Jacinta Allan this week visited Clayton to mark the start of early works, which include shifting sewer lines and relocating telecommunications.

Ms Allan said the level of interest from construction giants was an endorsement of the project, which is having its Environment Effects Statement assessed.

“Suburban Rail Loop is a city-shaping project of global significant and we’re delighted there is such strong interest from some of the world’s biggest construction companies vying to be a part of it,” she said.

“We’ve just started early works on SRL East and now the market has overwhelmingly endorsed this project – SRL is exactly what Victoria needs to transport our transport network, create jobs and connect communities”.