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Asia Pacific Transport Consortium Pty Ltd. April 8 began track construction for the 880-mile Alice Springs-Darwin rail link in Australia, designed to provide the country a north/south rail link.
The consortium's design/build contractor D&C Joint Venture — which comprises Barclay Mowlem, Macmahon, John Holland and Brown & Root — plans to use mechanized track layers to daily install about one mile of 110-pound rail, eventually laying about 145,000 tons of rail by the time the $600 million project's complete in 2004. The rail line also includes 2 million pre-stressed concrete ties and 100 bridges.
D&C Joint Venture in July 2001 began the project's civil work, involving 52.5 million cubic feet of earthwork and 1,500 culverts.
FreightLink plans to operate integrated rail/road/sea transport services after the route's complete, annually carrying about 3 million tons of domestic freight. Trains would operate daily.
The consortium — contracted to deliver the rail link under a BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) contract — would own and operate the railway for 50 years, then transfer the link's ownership back to the people of Australia.
In addition to building, owning and operating the line, the consortium would lease, upgrade and operate the Tarcoola-to-Alice Springs rail line, and operate facilities at the new East Arm Port of Darwin.