It looks like the deck of an aircraft carrier. In fact, it’s a storage yard for the construction of the $8.3 billion Sydney Metro Northwest — aka the North West Rail Link — at Kellyville.
The Kellyville storage yard is near the site of the future Kellyville railway station — one of eight new metro stations on the Sydney Metro Northwest network.
In this yard you will find concrete segments that will form the deck of a skytrain which will run four kilometres from Bella Vista to Rouse Hill when the new train services start in the first half of 2019.
Kellyville and Rouse Hill stations are elevated metro stations. Access will be via lifts and escalators, about 13 metres above ground.
"It's full-steam ahead as we deliver Australia's biggest public transport project," said Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
"Right across the north-west, the progress we've made on Sydney Metro Northwest is astounding."
A project spokesman said the skytrain is being built using two state-of-the-art launching gantries, or horizontal cranes — one launched from Kellyville, the other near Second Ponds Creek at Rouse Hill.
"These gantries work up to 20 metres in the air, lifting in place the premade concrete segments which will form the deck of the skytrain," he said.
The segments were made at Mulgrave.
The Kellyville gantry is being assembled on the ground and will soon be lifted into the air using two 500-tonne cranes. Once in place the gantry will be fitted out to be ready to operate later this year.
Having just finished work on a major roads project in Dubai, the gantries arrived at Kellyville in more than 23,000 pieces loaded into 182 containers.
"The gantries will build about 70 metres of skytrain a week but, importantly, will allow seven local roads and the T-way to remain open as work continues beneath," the project spokesman said.
Skytrain construction is expected to be completed in 2017.
■ 1360 commuter car park spaces, incorporating 160 from the Samantha Riley T-Way carpark;
■ 10 kiss-and-ride spaces;
■ four taxi spaces;
■ four bus bays; and
■ storage for 45 bicycles.