Regional Rail Link: City to Maribyrnong contract award announcement

TRANSCRIPT:

PREMIER:
We are delighted to be here today and this is the awarding of the fifth package on the Regional Rail Link Project.

And as Nicola said, this project is important to all Victorians.

It will separate the regional lines from the metropolitan lines, and that will make public transport so much easier for those travelling to and from Geelong, and Ballarat and Bendigo, and free up lines on the metropolitan system as well.

This fifth package is an important package and it is from the city to Maribyrnong here.

And it will involve a $570 million contract, a large contract, and that contract’s being awarded to John Holland, the Abigroup, Coleman Rail, AECOM & GHD who will be in alliance with Metro, V/Line and the Regional Rail Authority.

And this package adds to the work that has already been awarded.

There will be some 2,900 direct jobs, and some 2,700 indirect jobs associated with the whole project, and more than 550 jobs associated with this package alone.

There will be some works at Dynon Road, at the bridge there at Lloyd Street, and at Moonee Ponds, and some work at Dudley Street as well.

There will be a flyover, and this package is a critical package to the project.

This project is going to make a huge difference to the public transport system.

So we are very pleased to have advanced this.

We are very pleased that the expressions of interest and the tender has been so enthusiastically received, and we are looking forward to getting on with this.

MINISTER FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
Today’s package is the second last package in relation to the Regional Rail Link Project.

We have one more package that will be awarded middle of this year, and that is the West Werribee junction package.

From that point onwards we will see companies mobilising right along the breadth and depth of the Regional Rail Link Project.

As the Premier has indicated, a great construction project here in Victoria, going to put a lot of people into work – a number of significant construction jobs and of course flow on benefits right throughout the community.

It has been a wish of, particularly, people in regional Victoria, that they could get themselves a dedicated line into Southern Cross Station – that is what this project does.

Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong trains will be separated out from the metropolitan trains, will get greater levels of reliability and will be able to carry a lot more people on the network than we are carrying today.

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