ACT Government and successful tender Canberra Metro have signed the contracts for stage one of Canberra's first light rail project. Read: trams are taking over. After never leaving Melbourne, they are back on the Gold Coast, coming to Newcastle and are a real possibility for multiple Australian cities.
The successful consortium, comprising of Pacific Partnerships, CPB Contractors, John Holland, Mitsubishi Corporation, Aberdeen Infrastructure Investments, Deutsche Bahn International and CAF, were announced as the preferred tenderer in early February 2016.
The Canberra light rail contract's capital cost is approximately $710m, however this is to be finalised in the coming weeks when financial close for the project is reached.
The Federal Government have increased its contribution to the project to $67m and the ACT Government will make a capital contribution of $375m in 2018-2019.
Artist impression of Civic Plaza. Source:
The project includes a few bonus extras, including the Civic Plaza - a new public space to be developed in the centre of Northbourne Avenue between the Sydney and Melbourne buildings; and an enhanced terminal design for the Alinga Street terminus. Stops along the tram line will also benefit from dynamic LED lighting.
The artist impressions (pictured above) are only initial designs and are subject to change.
Initial works will commence in June with substantive works commencing in August.
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Source: AEOL