The North West Rail Link in Sydney: DSI supplies Quality Products for fully-automated Rapid Transit Rail System
The North West Rail Link in Sydney is currently Australia’s largest public transportation infrastructure project. When completed, the light rail system will be the first fully-automated rapid transit rail system in Australia. The railway track runs to the city’s North West and includes a total of 8 railway stations, thus relieving the rapidly growing districts from increasingly heavy road traffic. The joint venture Thiess John Holland Dragados is the General Contractor for this project.
The project also includes the construction of 15 km long twin tunnels from Epping to Bella Vista – Australia’s longest rail tunnels. Four tunnel boring machines (TBMs) with internal diameters of 6m are used for driving the tunnels. Tunnel advancement is mainly through sandstone and shale at an average cut rate of 120m per week.
DSI supplied 300 complete semi-permanent DSI Strand Anchors to both KPS and the Rix Group for the Epping and Castle Hill stations. A special 15.2mm strand wedge block was approved for use on all project sites. Already at the beginning of the project, DSI Australia supplied more than 1,000 wedge blocks and associated wedges to the 5 subcontractors for the more than 1,800 semi-permanent anchors that are required for the job.
In addition, DSI supplied one Type 55-0.6” DSI Strand Anchor with a total length of 35m to the subcontractor KPS.
DSI also supplied DCP Rock Bolts, chemical bolts and DSI and DSI Soil Nails and Rock Bolts to various sites throughout the project. Furthermore, in 2014, a supply of the new Kinloc Bolt with 30t load bearing capacity was carried out with a trial impending. The Kinloc Bolt System is a mechanically operated, point anchored friction bolt. The new rock bolt not only permits single pass bolting; it can also endure constantly shifting ground conditions and has optimum performance in shear loading.
The new North West Rail Link in Sydney is scheduled for completion at the end of 2019.