The Australian arms of French, Spanish, Chinese and Malaysian contractors have been shortlisted for the tunnelling works for the AU$11bn (£8.6bn) metro line that will serve the new Western Sydney International Airport.

On the shortlist are subsidiaries of France’s Bouygues, Spain’s Acciona and a joint venture of Malysia’s Gamuda and China Communications Construction Company subsidiary John Holland.

The three bidders are:

1、Bouygues Construction Australia

2、John Holland Gamuda Joint Venture

3、Acciona Construction Australia

The winner will build 10km of twin railway tunnels and the associated excavations of station boxes. The station box and tunnelling contract is expected to be awarded by the end of this year, with the first of four tunnel boring machines expected to be in the ground by the middle of 2023.

The Australian and New South Wales governments are jointly delivering the 23km railway and six stations between St Marys and the Western Sydney ‘Aerotropolis’, including two stations at the airport.

The project is expected to support 14,000 jobs, including 250 apprentices.