Ghella selected as preferred proponent for Vancouver Broadway Subway Project
20-07-2020
The Ghella-ACCIONA consortium has been selected by the Province of British Columbia as the preferred proponent for the Broadway Subway Project. The project is an extension of the Millennium Line and a key link for Vancouver transit system.
The CAD 2.83 billion project includes the design and construction of 5.7 new kilometres of network, part of which will be underground twin tunnels with an excavation diameter of 6.3 metres and six new stations.
The construction of the subway will start in 2020, with the new extension opening in 2025. This will be the fifth extension of the subway system, inaugurated in 1986. Once in service, the trip from VCC-Clark to
Arbutus Station will take 11 minutes, saving the average transit commuter almost 30 minutes a day and relieving congestion along Broadway. This will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions: a sustainable solution that will benefit the whole Vancouver community.
This new project marks Ghella’s return to Canada, where the Company delivered important works in the 1950’s. This is consistent with the Group’s corporate strategy, aimed at favouring sustainable growth through the selective acquisition of contracts in low risk and high potential countries.
The project, using a design-build-finance approach, is funded and delivered by the Government of British Columbia, with contributions from the Government of Canada and the City of Vancouver.
The consortium selected by the Province of British Columbia is led by ACCIONA (60%) and Ghella (40%). The companies have already collaborated in the past in iconic international transport tunnelling infrastructures such as Scandinavia’s longest high-speed railway tunnels for the Norwegian railway authorities (the Follo Line), the Legacy Way highway tunnels in Brisbane (Australia) and the Bologna Node on the Milan-Naples high-speed rail section in Italy.