The Capital Metro Light Rail project involves creating a 12 kilometre light rail line in Canberra city’s north. WSP provided planning and environment services, which included preparing the largest, most complex Environment Impact Statement in the history of the territory.
The NSRU project was part of the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program, a joint Australian and NSW Government initiative to improve capacity and reliability of freight trains between Strathfield and Newcastle. The 148 metre rail underpass allows freight trains to cross under the busy Main North Line without impacting faster passenger services. The team developed an innovative design – a shallow-cover, driven tunnel – allowing the project to be completed five months ahead of schedule.
WSP Director of Transport, Charlie Jewkes, congratulated the teams and commended them on their achievement.
‘It is a great honor to be named an AEEA finalist in two states. These projects represent two of WSP’s cornerstone capabilities – engineering and environmental services,’ concluded Mr Jewkes
The Canberra awards will be announced on 23 September while the Sydney event takes place on 7 October.
About the projects
The Capital Metro Light Rail EIS received approval from the ACT Environment and Planning Directorate in September 2015.
The NSRU design was undertaken by the Jacobs WSP joint venture with support from Mott Macdonald. The design team was part of the NSRU Alliance comprising Transport for NSW, Bouygues Travaux Publics and John Holland. The NSRU was officially opened in June 2015.