The High Speed Rail Authority (HRSA) has awarded tenders for the Sydney to Newcastle Business Case and is set to plan and develop the East Coast High Speed Rail Network.
Sydney to Newcastle is the busiest intercity rail line in Australia with almost 15 million passengers annually. The impending new high-speed rail network will connect Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle.
More than 300 industry members participated in the HSRA’s industry briefing on March 27, which was held as an opportunity to demonstrate interest in the project. Industry was encouraged to form consortia and required to comply will all requirements set out by the Commonwealth Approach to Market Terms.
Eight work packages have been awarded to consulting applicants including project control and services (costs, schedules and risks) to KPMG, and First Nations participation and engagement and First Nations culture and heritage to GHD.
EY has been awarded work packages for the economic development strategy and commercial and delivery strategy parts of the project, while WSP will work on transport, land use and property while collaborating with Arcadis on the technical advisory and stakeholder engagement package.
Finally, Arup has been awarded the High Speed Rail network operations planning work package.
The federal government has committed $500 million to the planning and corridor protection of the Sydney to Newcastle section, with the HRSA to work closely with a host of stakeholders on business case development.
The business case is expected to be presented to government by the end of 2024, following which corridor alignment and station locations will be determined by initial onsite studies.