We’ve got some more aerial before and after shots from Nearmap.com, this time showing work being done on the Sydney Metro Northwest rail project and the Northconnex road tunnel project. These shots, taken between May 2015 and September 2016, show the massive scale of these projects.
Sydney Metro Trains Facility at Rouse Hill
The first set of images is of the site of the new Sydney Metro Trains facility at Rouse Hill. Schofields Rd can be seen running horizontally along the bottom of the pic, with Tallawong Rd bending north.
When the enormous site is completed, the facility will be used to house and maintain Sydney’s trains. It will have capacity for 20 automated metro trains and 46 regular trains.
Tracks from the facility will connect to the network near the Cudgegong Rd station.
Bella Vista station and Balmoral Rd construction site
The huge scale of this site is apparent from these detailed images. For reference, Old Windsor Rd is running diagonally along the left of the pic and Balmoral Rd runs along the top.
The southern part of the image containing the curved building will form the new Bella Vista station, with the tracks shown in the final image of the set. The northern part of the site has been used as a logistics site for the Metro Northwest project, with a temporary concrete mixing and casting plant installed.
This plant produced the concrete rings needed for the tunnels which were then shipped across Sydney as needed. At peak production, this site was receiving 100 tonnes of cement and 500 cubic metres of sand and aggregate every day.
Southern Interchange Compound at West Pennant Hills
The final set of images is actually part of the Northconnex road tunnel project, which will connect the M1 Pacific Highway (Sydney-Newcastle) and M2 Hills Motorway.
The site in the picture will become the Southern Interchange Compound, a network of on and off ramps connecting the Northconnex tunnel, the M2 and Pennant Hills Rd.
Pennant Hills Rd runs through the centre of the image with the M2 just out of shot at the southern end.
The site is intended to have a number of permanent buildings, with a motorway control centre and independent electrical substation being built. The interchange is being built in such a way that will allow for future connections to Sydney’s CBD to be implemented easily.