$310m rail deal

A JOINT venture between John Holland (65 per cent) Macmahon (25 per cent) and Multiplex (10 per cent) has been awarded a $310 million contract to build the southern suburbs railway between Perth and Mandurah.

The contract includes design and construction of the 70-kilometre rail track and the construction of 15 road, rail and pedestrian bridges or underpasses.

The contractors will use self-contained track-laying equipment, which means traffic on the Kwinana Freeway should not be disrupted. About 400 people will be employed at the peak of construction.

“The consortium partners bring together specialised expertise – Macmahons in earthworks, Multiplex in structures, and John Holland in track laying, civil construction and bridges,” John Holland managing director Bill Wild said.

Macmahon chief executive officer Nick Bowen said the rail contract took its order book to $820 million.

Last week, Macmahon upgraded its 2003-04 profit forecast from $8.5 million to between $9 million and $10 million following the better than anticipated start-up of new projects.