After awarding CPB Contractors the contract to design and build Stage 2 of the Gold Cost Light Rail in March this year, the Qld Govt and GoldLinQ entered into a partnership to deliver the extension in time for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Construction has been fast-tracked and set to start on schedule in July and will support up to 1,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction and operation.
The Gold Coast economy is set to benefit from GoldLinQ and CPB Contractors' commitment to support local jobs during the construction of Stage 2 - so stay tuned for announcements if that includes you!
Stage 2 is a 7.3km light rail link between Parkwood and Helensvale, improving connectivity and facilitating easy transfer between light rail (i.e. trams), heavy rail (i.e. trains) and buses.
Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 2 fly-through. Source: GoldLinQ GCLR
The extension connects five completion venues to accomodation and public transport interchanges and is critical to the region's ability to support the crowds for the Games.
Three new tram stations will be built at Parkwood East, Parkwood and Helensvale, which will include 400 park ‘n’ ride spaces at Helensvale station and 1000 park ‘n’ ride space spaces at Parkwood station.
The project creates an unprecedented one-transfer journey between the Gold Coast CBD and Brisbane CBD and reduces the journey time from Helensvale station to Gold Coast University Hospital station to 11 minutes.
Relocation of underground services and civil construction will be underway in the coming months, along with construction of bridges and other necessary infrastructure, and GoldLinQ CEo Phil Mumford has said that "every effort will be taken to minimise disruption and to keep the community up-to-date on activities."
Works will continue into next year to make sure that services are fully operational before the Commonwealth Games in 2018. Expect to see equipment for traffic control, environmental & monitoring, concreting, road making/line marking, cutting & coring, drilling & boring as well as excavators, rollers, dozers, scrapers, graders and compactors.
The $420 million project will be delivered with a $270 million contribution from the Queensland Government, $95 million from the Federal Government and up to $55 million from the City of Gold Coast.
Source: Qld Govt, GoldLinQ, GoldLinQ GCLR