Sydney Light Rail

Significant Feat of Engineering

Sydney Light Rail

Sydney Light Rail, serving the city, has three routes – L1 Dulwich Hill, L2 Randwick and L3 Kingsford lines. The network comprises 42 stops and a length of 24.7 km (15.3 mi), making it the second largest light-rail network in Australia. Last year, it is estimated 25.67 million passenger journeys were made on the network, equating to more than 70,000 daily travellers.

As Area Manager, Earl Alcon was responsible for $300 million of structural and civil works and managing and motivating a team of more than 60 engineering and supervisory staff. The area covered four precincts through Randwick, Moore Park, Surry Hills and the CBD.

The project included a single-span bridge over the Eastern Distributor Motorway; demolition of a pedestrian bridge over the Eastern Distributor Motorway; a 500m long cut and cover tunnel (bottom-up and top-down construction methods), two traction power sub-stations, two light-rail vehicle stations, a dual-span pedestrian bridge across Anzac Parade (with lifts over 160Tn), an operations and control centre building and the strengthening of a prescribed dam embankment. These works also included diaphragm walls piling, sheet piling, bored piling and continuous flight auger piling.

Earl’s other roles included:

• Managing the preparation of traffic staging plans; including within heavily pedestrianised zones, and the construction of a temporary six-lane dual-carriageway road diversion of a main arterial road to allow the construction of a section of the cut and cover tunnel; which resulted in a 50 per cent  (8-month) saving in the construction program.
• Staging the construction works at complex intersections, which included diversions and short-term shutdowns.
• Leading the multi-disciplinary coordination (Civil, Rail, and Underground Services/Utilities teams) and negotiations of construction proposals and staging to the client and stakeholders.
• Managing the preparation of short-term and long-term construction programs.
• Forecasting of direct project costs, variance analysis of forecast to actual spends, including assisting with monthly reports.
• Managing relationships and liaison with the client, state and local governments and local stakeholders (including the Sydney Coordination Office, Traffic Management Centre, Sydney Trains, Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust, Airport Motorways Limited/Transurban, Royal Randwick Racecourse/Australian Turf Club, Sydney Cricket Ground Trust, Department of Education, State Transit Authority and the NSW Dam Safety Committee).

Considered to be one of the most significant engineering feats in the South East Light Rail development, the project was completed in 2019.

Speaking to the Southern Courier newspaper after completion of the project , Earl Alcon said it was a proud moment.

“This is why I joined the game,” he said. You actually see what you build … you see the guys go through the blood, sweat and tears and then seeing this.

“It’s a big feat.”