The NSW Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian have signed the operations contract for Sydney’s North West Rail Link, said to be Australia’s largest public transport infrastructure project and first fully-automated rapid transit rail system.
Chief executive officer of the ARA, Mr Bryan Nye OAM, welcomed today’s announcement, along with last week’s commencement of tunnelling for the project.
"Congestion on Sydney’s roads is increasing at a rapid rate and with one passenger train taking 525 cars off the road, this project is bound to transform Sydney’s rail network as well as its roads – providing improvements for all,” said Mr Nye.
"The introduction of the fully-automated rapid transit system will add benefits for commuters that have not been seen on any other rail network in the country, with a ‘turn up and go’ service not requiring a timetable.
The line will use single-deck rapid transit trains that have extra doors to enter and exit from and less seating to provide greater capacity for customers. These are the trains of modern rail networks around the world, Mr Nye claimed.
"The rapid transit single-deck trains, which will be built by ARA member company Alstom, will provide Sydney commuters with a safer, easier and more frequent service because of the new platform screen doors, faster loading and unloading times and high-capacity carriages.
"These trains operate around the world and have proven to modernise and transform the public transport networks of major cities, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Milan and Amsterdam,” said Mr Nye.
The North West Rail Link services are set to start in 2019 with 15 trains moving an extra 100,000 people every peak hour at a 98 per cent on-time running rate. The $8.3 billion project is the first stage of a new rapid transit network.
