GM Consult was today engaged to estimate the costs of a proposed extension to the North-West Rail Link beyond Rouse Hill to Riverstone. The cost estimate builds on earlier work undertaken for the Ministry of Transport and is primarily intended as a decision-making aid for corridor preservation. The corridor previously developed in the SCAPE Report.
While this study is not mode specific, it has assumed design criteria that would enable any potential mode that may be required in the future to meet demand from the North West Growth Centre. Consequently, the widest turning radii and flattest gradients were selected from the design criteria for the range of modes that may potentially be provided in the corridor.
To be conservative, the estimated costs are based on unit rates for the construction of heavy rail, the highest (capital) cost mode of the range of modes.