Australian group wins bid

An Australian-led consortium of construction and engineering companies won a US$97 million contract yesterday to build the first stage of a billion-dollar high speed rail project. Barclay Mowlem Construction led the Taiwan Track Partners consortium, which includes Leighton Contractors of Sydney, Germany's Heitkamp Rail and Taiwanese companies Fu Tsu Construction (互助營造) and Hsing Lung Construction Corp (興隆營造). The contract covers construction of 29km of low vibration track underneath Taipei and an additional three kilometers of track on a viaduct, Barclay Mowlem director Bill Killinger said. It is the first section of a 345km rail line linking Taipei to the southern port city of Kaohsiung. The line is due to be operational in 2005. The Track Partners consortium has also submitted tenders for stages two and three of the rail project, worth US$486 million and US$378 million, respectively. A decision on those contracts is expected within weeks, Killinger said.