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The skyrocketing cost of a train station beneath central Sydney for the Metro West rail line has been laid bare in the NSW government’s confidential estimates for the mega project, showing it has soared by more than $900 million above what was forecast just five years ago.
The surge in the price tag for the project’s signature station under Hunter Street in the city raises serious questions about what NSW taxpayers will be slugged for building several other stations along the 24-kilometre line that have yet to be awarded to contractors.
A render of an entrance to the Metro West station beneath Hunter Street n the Sydney CBD.
The Herald has obtained confidential forecasts – made in mid-2020 and revised in early 2025 – by Sydney Metro, which is responsible for the delivery of the government’s biggest transport project.
The government is now paying a Lendlease-led consortium $1.5 billion to build the station beneath Hunter Street, which the internal documents show is $908 million higher than the amount Sydney Metro forecast in mid-2020.
It is also about $420 million greater than agency estimates from eight months ago, making it easily Sydney’s most expensive metro station.
One explanation is that the government was left with a single bid for the Hunter Street station precinct, after Multiplex and Brookfield pulled out of the tender process early last year.
The cost of excavating the giant cavern beneath Hunter Street for the Metro West station is part of a separate $1.87 billion contract.Credit: Steven Siewert
The cost of building the station does not include the bill for excavating a giant cavern for it, which is part of a $1.87 billion contract for 3.5 kilometres of tunnels at the eastern end of the Metro West line. Nor does it include more than $4 billion spent on property acquisitions, including those in the CBD, for the entire project.
Compounding the financial pressures, the cost of stations at Westmead, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock and the Bays in Rozelle is $620 million higher than Sydney Metro’s internal estimates early last year of $2.23 billion.
The $2.85 billion contract to build those five stations as part of a single package was awarded two weeks ago to Malaysian company Gamuda.
Contracts for stations at Parramatta, Olympic Park and Pyrmont have yet to be awarded, raising the prospect that their build costs will exceed Sydney Metro’s estimates last year of about $600 million, $625 million and $500 million respectively.
Each of the Hunter Street station’s two entrances will have skyscrapers built above them.
Even after contracts have been awarded, Sydney’s transport projects have had a history of soaring in cost due to scope variations and contractors making claims.
Coalition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said the “one and only bidder” for the Hunter Street station clearly had the government over a barrel.
“Labor’s management of this project has seen Metro West delayed for two years and missed deadlines to award contracts, which just results in taxpayers having to wait longer and pay more,” she said.
Transport Minister John Graham said the tender for Hunter Street station had been a “robust, open market process”, and one that was started by the former Coalition government.
“Transport and Treasury put this through a rigorous value for money assessment. The number and value of the bids received by Sydney Metro reflect the capacity in the market,” he said.
Sydney Metro said the cost of Hunter Street station had risen largely due to significant increases in material and construction costs, along with the complexity of a major underground station that could enable developments above in a highly constrained CBD environment.
“Station construction represents one of the more complex elements of the West project. The value of the remaining station contracts is dependent on market conditions at the time of procurement, as is the case for the delivery of all infrastructure projects,” it said.
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Hong Kong’s MTR, which leads a consortium that runs Sydney’s M1 metro line, won the contract to operate and maintain the Metro West line for 15 years. As part of that $3.96 billion contract, Chinese manufacturer CRRC, which built NSW’s Waratah double-decker fleet, will construct 16 trains for the line.
The government confirmed last month that the total cost of Metro West would blow out by as much as $3.7 billion to $29 billion. A major contributor has been the skyrocketing cost of stations.
As part of the deals, Lendlease will develop a 52-storey skyscraper above the new CBD station’s western entrance – on the corner of George and Hunter streets – and Mirvac and Coombes Property will build a tower up to 58 storeys on top of the eastern entrance next to O’Connell and Hunter streets.
Hospitality billionaire Justin Hemmes’ Merivale pulled out of the consortium developing the station beneath Hunter Street and the towers above.
Sydney Metro said the initial response to tender included Merivale-owned land, but it was not in the final awarded contract. Merivale’s Ivy nightclub and restaurant complex neighbours land on which the western entrance and tower will be built.
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