Sydney High Speed Rail

Alta worked with the Catalyst team providing advice on the best construction methods for developing stations, water crossings and areas with challenging site conditions. Our team helped tackle complex site-access issues, and ensured the proposed work aligns with the project schedule and budget.

Project scope

The Sydney High-Speed Rail project is a key component of the broader transport network in Australia. It aims to connect Sydney with major cities and regional hubs across the eastern seaboard, including Newcastle, Canberra, and eventually Melbourne and Brisbane.

Trains will travel at speeds of up to 350km/h. This project will significantly reduce travel times and enable Australia to deliver a rail network comparable to those in Europe and Asia.

Alta’s work

Our team drew on our extensive tunnelling experience, and our bridge/viaduct expertise (for bridges of long lengths) to support this project. We reviewed construction plans and provided advice that factored in environmental and sustainability needs. We looked for opportunities to innovate, and identified different construction methods to help improve efficiency and project outcomes.  

Catalyst brought the Alta team back into the fold later in the project.  We provided additional advice on the programme and sequencing / staging of the overall project. We were also involved in value engineering to reduce construction costs.

This was an exciting project to work on - it’s our hope that this work will pave the way for high-speed rail in New Zealand in the future.

Alta’s project team

Rory Bishop (tunnels, stations, bridges), Johan Pratomo (bridges) and Keegan Saville (tunnels and stations).