Sydney Inner West Light Rail contract awarded

The New South Wales state government has awarded John Holland the contract to design and build a 5.6km extension of Sydney's light rail line.

John Holland will be responsible for the detailed design and construction of the main infrastructure elements of extension, which will largely follow the alignment of a former freight line from the existing terminus at Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill.

The contract includes the construction of nine new stations, power and signalling systems and bridge works, forming part of the $A 176m ($US 184m) Inner West Light Rail extension project.

In March the state government acquired the existing Sydney light rail line from Central Station to Lilyfield from Veolia and has recently incorporated the line into its integrated MyZone ticketing system.

Preparatory and geotechnical investigations are expected to start next month and the project will be completed in 2014.

Bombardier and CAF have been shortlisted for the contract to supply the additional LRVs required for the extended line.