Downer EDI Works wins Southwest metro upgrade contract

Australia’s Sydney Metro has awarded a $107m contract to Downer EDI Works to upgrade stations on the more than 125-year-old T3 Bankstown Line to meet metro rail standards.

T3 Bankstown Line spans between Sydenham and Bankstown.

The project will soon commence at Campsie, Dulwich Hill, and Punchbowl stations.

As part of the upgrade work, existing platforms will be improved and re-levelled to provide level access to the new air-conditioned metro trains.

Dulwich Hill Station will feature a new aerial footbridge with lifts and stairs, which will connect Bedford Crescent and Ewart Lane to the existing platform.

A new plaza to the southern side of Dulwich Hill Station will also be added.

Punchbowl Stations will have new lifts, connecting the existing concourses to the platform level while upgrades will be implemented at Campsie Station forecourt to improve connections to Beamish Street.

The stations will also witness improved lighting, tiling, paving, painting, and security fencing, apart from fixing anti-throw screens to current overbridges next to each station.

Interchanges such as bike parking, taxi spaces, kiss and ride and accessible parking will also be improved.

The stations will also see the installation of platform screen doors.

These glass safety barriers, which are being used for the first time in Australia, will keep commuters and objects such as prams away from the lines.

In 2024, metro services will resume on the renovated Bankstown Line, with nearly 15 trains running each way an hour.

Several stations such as Wiley Park and Canterbury currently have only four trains an hour.

Earlier, Sydney Metro awarded a $227m contract to John Holland and Laing O’Rourke Australia Construction for the renovation of the Bankstown Line.

The contract included upgrades to 15 bridges and the installation of safety screens.