Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has appointed Leighton Asia to deliver two major contracts for the construction of the South Island Line (East) rail project worth a total of approximately US$583M. One of the contracts is awarded to a joint venture between Leighton Asia and John Holland Pty Limited, which expects revenues of approximately US$107M from its share.
The South Island Line (East) will be a medium-capacity railway covering approximately 7 kilometres from Admiralty Station to South Horizons Station with intermediate stations at Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang and Lei Tung and includes 4km of drill and blast tunnel.
Spanning many different civil engineering disciplines, the contracts require Leighton Asia to construct 2km of viaduct that will form the above-ground section of the railway, a 115m long Aberdeen Channel railway bridge, 1.1km of tunnels, two elevated stations at Ocean Park and Wong Chuk Hang, two underground stations at Lei Tung and South Horizons and related plant and ventilation buildings. Cut-and-cover construction methods and drilling and blasting will be used for tunnelling works.
When completed, the South Island Line (East) will provide fast and reliable railway service for communities in the south of Hong Kong Island and help ease traffic congestion at critical bottlenecks like Aberdeen Tunnel and the central business district.
“Leighton Asia has built a solid track record in rail infrastructure in Hong Kong over some three decades with a number of significant projects, including key sections of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. Our significant rail and tunnelling experience makes us well suited to successfully deliver this project and we are pleased to be able to work with the MTR Corporation again,” Leighton Asia Managing Director Hamish Tyrwhitt said.
Construction works are scheduled to begin in May 2011, with an expected completion date in 2015.
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