North West Rail Link

Client: Transport for New South Wales – NWRL Project
Location: Greater Sydney Metropolitan Region
Duration: 2012 - 2015
Project Value: $8 billion
Roles: Various

The NWRL project will deliver a new high frequency single deck train system between Cudgegong Road, Rouse Hill and Chatswood. The Project includes eight new stations, 15.5 kilometres of tunnels from Epping to Bella Vista and a 4.5 kilometre sky train between Bella Vista and Rouse Hill. It also includes the conversion of the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link to deliver high frequency rapid transit services.

Procurement/transaction services and project management

InfraSol Group personnel led and were directly involved in many aspects of the procurement process for the Early Works contract, D&C tunnel and viaduct contracts, the stations and rail systems PPP contract and associated service providers (independent certifiers, contract/project managers to manage the D&C and PPP contracts). These aspects included:

The market sounding and industry engagement process
End to end scoping, procurement and delivery of Early Works
Procurement and establishment of two major D&C contracts
Engagement of Independent Certifiers for civil D&C contracts
Establishment of contract management framework for D&C and PPP contracts
Establishment of the service briefs and review of EOI/RFT documentation for the service providers (contract management and project management)
Development and execution of interface agreements with RMS, Sydney Trains and other government departments and agencies
Review of PPP contract Independent Certifier Deed to ensure that it was ‘fit for purpose’ and subsequent procurement of the preferred proponent
Management of the tender evaluation processes for contract management service providers and the D&C/PPP contracts

Project advisory and organisational change management

InfraSol Group personnel were directly involved in providing organisational advisory services in relation to the organisational transformation. These services included the establishment of the contract management framework, organisational reporting and governance requirements for the D&C and PPP contracts as well as development of the project organisation structures for the project/contract management service providers including the Responsibility Accountability Consult Inform (RACI) frameworks for the project/contract management groups and the functional groups within the NWRL Delivery Office

InfraSol were also involved in the review of the Civil Contract Management Functional Group (responsible for delivering the major D&C contracts) and participated in the review for the Rapid Transit Integration Functional Group (representing the asset owner) as well as the review of the internal governance framework for the delivery phase.

Risk management

InfraSol Group provided risk management services from project inception including he establishment of the NWRL enterprise-wide risk management framework and associated governance (including policies, systems, plans, tools and templates) and implementation of rigorous risk identification, risk assessment and quantification (@Risk modelling) processes and procedures.

Key stakeholder management and coordination were also provided.

Construction Methods Development

InfraSol Group:

prepared an Initial NWRL Construction Methods document to inform the development of the initial cost plan, risk assessment, land acquisition and the design and environmental impact assessment teams on the context of the project activities. The Constructability Advisors (Bamser & Evans & Peck) were then appointed by NWRL and subsequently managed by us
briefed the key impacted stakeholders – Councils, RMS, RailCorp and utility organisations – during the development of the EIS1 Construction Methods document. The stakeholders were engaged in accordance with the project’s impact upon their assets and operations, and
participated in numerous Options Studies through the development of project definition, in parallel to the EIS1 development. These were critically reviewed and led to station location adjustments, a third of the route being elevated or at surface level, and greater certainty with construction worksite definition.

The project team then focussed on de-risking the major contracts through broadly scoping the enabling works activities including demolition, traffic access for heavy vehicle, tunnelling equipment power supply, services protection / interface elimination through design / relocation and project wide geotechnical investigations.

InfraSol Group developed and implemented the NWRL Integrated Management System (IMS) to comply with ISO9001. In developing and implementing the IMS, InfraSol worked collaboratively across the entire integrated project team and functional groups. The NWRL IMS framework was aligned to TfNSW requirements, and was subsequently adopted by the Sydney Light Rail Delivery Office when developing its IMS.

InfraSol Group assisted in the review of EIS1 and EIS2 documentation, community consultation and the responses to submissions leading to supporting the provision of reasonable Ministers Conditions of Approval. The Interface Agreements with RailCorp and RMS were matured and aligned to the civil works Project Deeds with appropriate obligations and risk allocation.

Key Outcomes

Early Works planning, procurement and management
Procurement management, transaction services and project management
Project advisory and organisational change management
Risk management
Integrated Management System development