Sydney Metro

Sydney Metro is Australia’s biggest public transport project and the largest urban rail infrastructure investment in the nation’s history. A fully automated railway, it serves and stimulates urban development, meeting long-term travel demand across a growing global city. Driverless trains run every four minutes at peak times, with ultimate capacity for a train every two minutes in each direction.

The complex and multi-faceted Sydney Metro program – directed by state transport agency Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) – has three stages:

• Sydney Metro Northwest (formerly known as the North West Rail Link) brought rail transport to the fast-developing northwest suburbs. The US$6.2 billion (A$8.5 billion) rail link included eight new and five upgraded stations, and a 4km elevated ‘skytrain’ viaduct.
• Metro City & Southwest is a 30km extension with twin 15.5km-long bored tunnels under Sydney Harbour and city’s central business district. The US$9.2 billion (A$12.5 billion) project also involves seven new stations, and upgrading 13.5km of rail line and 11 stations to metro standards. 
• Metro West will link the central business districts of Sydney and Parramatta, and communities in between. This multi-billion dollar scheme is scheduled for delivery in the second half of the 2020s.

Brief

HKA has been involved in the Sydney Metro program – and its predecessor – since inception in 2005. Over that time our consultants have provided expert advice in a wide range of areas, from strategy development to procurement and project delivery. HKA continues to support TfNSW’s Sydney Metro Delivery Office, since established by statute as the Sydney Metro Authority.

What we did

Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport (SM-WSA) 

Sydney Metro WSA will deliver a new transport spine for Greater Western Sydney, connecting communities and travellers with the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport and the growing region. The project will deliver six stations across 23 kilometres of rail, integrating with St Marys station.

HKA (along with Atkins Realis and APP Group) is the Integrated Delivery Partner, providing a team skilled in complex integration and coordination services. A key priority is to support the delivery of high-quality works with maximum efficiency and minimal delay by successfully coordinating project planning, construction, testing, and commissioning activities.

Elie Anthony and Michael Luong win a Sydney Metro Joint Project Committee Award in 2024

Metro Northwest

HKA has consolidated multiple work streams, culminating in our role of providing delivery coordination and product verification services for Australia’s largest PPP (public-private partnership).

Our work entailed:

• Managing the project development phase and business case.
• Running the procurement process for the early works, tunnels, stations and viaduct contracts.
• Managing relationships with all federal, state and local government agencies, as well as landowners, utilities and property developers.
• Directing delivery coordination and product assurance of the US$2.7 billion (A$3.7 billion) contract for operations, trains and systems.
• Leading development and implementation of the innovation and legacy program for Sydney Metro.

Metro City & Southwest and Metro West

HKA was engaged by TfNSW – in partnership with Turner Townsend – as managed services partner in 2018.

Embedded within an integrated Sydney Metro team, our people provided support through the projects’ lifecycles, including the establishment of project management offices (PMOs) and project control services, involving:

• Establishing and managing the PMO.
• Risk and change management.
• The reporting regime and document control.
• Specialist planning, scheduling and cost estimating.
• Coaching and mentoring projects controls staff.

Metro West

In 2017 HKA was commissioned by the state government to manage industry engagement and lead development of the project’s delivery strategy. The global engagement program fosters innovation and shapes a world-class transport system. Major elements include:

• Consulting stakeholders and global industry players, analysing the findings to inform the project definition and delivery strategy.
• An international benchmarking survey of metro owners and operators, capturing lessons learnt and best practice.
• Exploring market-led opportunities for additional stations and precinct development.
• Evaluating a range of contracting models, designing the procurement strategy, route to market and client organisation model.

Outcomes

HKA has helped develop the strategy for a world-class metro system that will support Sydney’s future development and sustainable growth.

Our contribution spans multiple programs of work, protecting the interests of our client and ensuring value for taxpayers.

Strong stakeholder engagement ensured timeframes were met for delivering the project-critical utility asset relocation and installation in Stage 1.

We continue to work collaboratively while drawing on our global network and expertise in planning and delivering the best outcomes for complex infrastructure projects.