Transport for New South Wales has received two proposals for the Operations, Trains and Systems (OTS) Package of the North West Rail link project, which is being procured via a PPP contract.

The two proposals will be assessed before the NSW Government awards the multi-billion dollar contract in the second half of next year.

The two consortia are the following:

• Northwest Rapid Transit - MTR Corporation (Australia), John Holland, Leighton Contractors, UGL Rail Services, Plenary Group,
• TransForm - Serco Australia, Bombardier Transportation Australia, SNC-Lavalin Capital, McConnell Dowell Constructors (Aust), John Laing Investments, Macquarie Capital Group.

The contract includes:

• building the eight new railway stations,
• delivering the commuter car parks for 4,000 cars,
• supplying the new generation rapid transit single deck trains,
• building and operating the stabling and maintenance facility at Tallawong Road,
• installing tracks, signalling, mechanical and electrical systems,
• converting the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link for the new rapid transit system,
• operating the North West Rail Link - including all maintenance work.

Gladys Berejiklian, NSW's transport minister, said:

The cream of the crop from across Australia and around the world have put a massive amount of work into these proposals - to ensure we deliver the best project for our customers.

In July, the government of New South Wales awarded a $1.15 billion contract for the tunnels design-build contract of the North West Rail Link to a consortium that includes Thiess (Leighton group), John Holland (Leighton group) and Spanish firm Dragados.