Ghella and Siemens build Sydney Metro line to Western Sydney Airport

Documented European involvement across several areas: Italian contractor Ghella forms a joint venture with CPB Contractors (Australia) for tunnelling (A$1.8bn contract awarded December 2021); the four tunnel boring machines (Eileen, Peggy, Catherine, Marlene) completed 9.8km of twin-tunnel excavation in 2024. Siemens Mobility (Germany) is delivering, under a turnkey contract (Siemens share approx. €900m), 12 driverless three-car metro trains plus signalling, electrification, telecoms and platform screen doors. The SSTOM operating consortium "Parklife Metro" (awarded December 2022) also includes Webuild (Italy) as station construction contractor and RATP Dev (France) as 15-year operator, alongside Plenary Group and Siemens Mobility.

The Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport Line is an approx. 23km driverless metro line connecting the new Western Sydney Airport to Sydney's rail network; total cost approx. A$11 billion, construction started 2020. European involvement is documented in several respects: Ghella (Italy) as tunnelling JV partner of CPB Contractors, Siemens Mobility (Germany) as train and signalling supplier, and Webuild (Italy) and RATP Dev (France) in the Parklife Metro operating consortium. The opening, originally planned for late 2026, has been pushed to December 2027, with reports of further delay risk into 2028 and a dispute between Sydney Metro and the Parklife consortium over claims of up to $2.2 billion. Update (18 Aug 2026): The first of twelve three-car driverless metro trains from Siemens Mobility has arrived in Australia; testing follows over the coming months, first at the Orchard Hills stabling and maintenance facility and then on the main line. Siemens Mobility's contract share is EUR 900 million; the report gives no new opening date (LOK Report, 18 Aug 2026).