WestConnex is Australia’s largest road transport infrastructure project, designed to link western and south-western Sydney with the city, airport and harbour via a 33km motorway. The project is divided into four geographical sections, in all of which SICE has supplied its SIDERA integrated tunnel management solution together with other Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). SICE also operates Australia’s most advanced control centre, managing more than 26 km of tunnel under the SIDERA Operations Management Control System (OMCS).
The main stages of the project are:
- M4 East: First underground section with 5.5 km of tunnels and 7.5 km of roads, designed to alleviate congestion and reduce travel times by up to 35 minutes.
- M8: With 9km of twin tunnels, it doubles the capacity of the M5 East and reduces journey times by around 30 minutes from south-west Sydney to the southern city centre.
- M4-M8 Link: Connects the M4 and M8 with the future Rozelle Interchange connections.
- Rozelle Interchange: Complex of tunnels interconnecting different parts of the WestConnex, reducing journey times between Parramatta and central Sydney by up to 19 minutes during rush hour.
Each of the WestConnex tunnels has an independent Operations Management and Control System (OMCS).
SICE has played an integral role in all phases of the project, from design to implementation, by providing a wide range of systems, including CCTV, signalling, communication, vehicle detection, and more, as well as the Integrated OMCS system, the software platform that integrates the management of all WestConnex tunnels so that they can be operated as a single tunnel. SICE is also responsible for the preventive maintenance and 24/7 support of all systems delivered on the motorway.
