Perth’s A$1.86bn Forrestfield-Airport Link, an 8.5km, three-station railway linking the Western Australian capital’s central business district to its airport, will start carrying people on 9 October, says its developer, Metronet.
A spur off Perth’s Midland Line, the link will open Perth’s eastern suburbs to rail transit for the first time and cut the journey from downtown to 18 minutes.
A joint venture of Italy’s Salini-Impregilo (now Webuild) and Australian civil contractor NRW Holdings won the project in April 2016.
To make the link, they bored twin tunnels 7.3km in length up to 35m below ground, including under the Swan River, plus three stations.
The JV will maintain the link for 10 years.
In setting the opening date, Metronet said testing and commissioning had entered its final stages with driver training now underway.
It expects around 20,000 passenger trips to be made a day on the link in its first year, rising to 29,000 a day by 2032.
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