Rendel awarded two roles on Australia’s Skytrain project

The A$8.3 billion (£4.6 billion) North West Rail Link is Australia’s largest public transport infrastructure project currently under construction and a high priority rail project for the New South Wales (NSW) Government. Managed by Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW), sections of the project also interface with Road and Maritime Services (RMS) infrastructure, a Government agency delivering safe and efficient journeys throughout NSW.

The principal Design and Build (D&B) Contractor for the A$340m (£190m) Surface and Viaducts contract (SVC) is the Impregilo-Salini Joint Venture (ISJV). The SVC involves the construction of a 4.6km long ‘Skytrain’ section comprising a precast segmental elevated viaduct, erected by the span-by-span erection technique using an overhead erection gantry. The project also includes a complex, 270m long cable-stayed bridge with a curved geometry in plan and employing a single plane of cable-stays.

Proof Engineer

Rendel has been appointed by the ISJV as Proof Engineer to perform an independent design check of the RMS related sections of the viaduct as well as the cable-stayed bridge. Our scope involves developing independent analytical models for static and dynamic analysis, including seismic and train structure interaction. For the cable-stayed bridge, the work scope incorporates complex analytical investigations of the cable loss scenario. The modelling includes a simulation of the erection process in order to derive the staged build-up of stresses in the viaduct and cable-stayed structures during erection.

Design checks will be carried out in accordance with the client’s requirements and will include structural as well as durability checks to ensure smooth operations of the railway throughout the 100-year design life of the facility.

Technical experts for the cable-stayed bridge

Rendel has also been appointed by the ISJV to provide expert technical advice and value engineering for the 270m cable-stayed bridge over Windsor Road at Rouse Hill, Sydney. Our scope includes all aspects of analysis, design, erection engineering and maintenance of the bridge which is to be constructed by a novel hybrid erection technique comprising segmental cantilever as well as span-by-span erection using an overhead gantry.

Our scope involves directly assisting the ISJV in matters relating to the design development, design management, erection engineering and engagement with the specialist supply chain.

The role also involves the presentation of wider options to the ISJV for the design and erection of the cable-stayed bridge in light of Rendel’s vast experience of such bridges and international best practice.

Scheduled to open in 2019, the North West Rail Link will be the country’s first fully automated rail system and is the first stage of Sydney’s new rapid transport network.