Latest news with #SuburbanRailLoop
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Gamuda's outlook positive on strong project pipeline: analysts
KUALA LUMPUR: Gamuda Bhd's outlook remains upbeat, supported by a robust project pipeline, according to analysts. Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd (HLIB) said that despite some delays in converting contracts and minor challenges in its bid for the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) systems package, Gamuda's order book is still expected to grow to between RM40 billion and RM45 billion by the end of the year. HLIB also highlighted that the company has recently been shortlisted for more projects, including New Zealand's Northland Corridor highway. "Gamuda is optimistic of prospects in Taiwan as the award timing of the RM11 billion rail extension could come earlier than expected. "Accounting for the SRL systems setback, Gamuda's high certainty pipeline remains massive at more than RM25 billion. "Further to this, we view the recent conclusion of Australian GE as reinforcing renewables' growth trajectory which bodes well for its existing pumped hydro ECIs (worth RM5 billion each)," it said. Meanwhile, Public Investment Bank Bhd (PublicInvest) noted that Gamuda's year to date project wins have reached RM15.8 billion, with its current outstanding construction orderbook estimated at RM34.6 billion. It said the jobs pipeline remains encouraging, with an additional RM15-20 billion new wins expected by end of calendar year 2025 (CY25), spanning water infrastructure, data centers (DC), renewables, and other key projects across Malaysia, Australia, and Taiwan. "On the property front, unbilled sales are now estimated at RM7.7 billion, with a RM5 billion sales target for FY25. "Regarding the data centre (DC) pipeline, Gamuda's DC partners indicated no plans to slow down or delay rollouts, and negotiations for additional DC projects are progressing well," it said. Gamuda reported a stronger quarter in the third quarter (Q3) financial year 2025 (FY25), with core net profit reaching RM246.8 million, mainly driven by improved performance in its domestic engineering & construction (E&C) division. However, PublicInvest said the cumulative nine month FY25 core net profit of RM664.5 million came in below both the firm's and consensus expectations, accounting for only 66.2 per cent and 63.8 per cent of respective full year estimates. It said the shortfall was primarily due to slower than expected earnings recognition from its overseas construction and property projects. "That said, we keep our earnings forecasts unchanged, as we expect Gamuda's performance to catch up in the final quarter, which has historically been its strongest. "We remain optimistic about its prospect, supported by encouraging project pipeline, and maintain our Outperform call on Gamuda with unchanged target price of RM5.30," it added.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Suburban Rail Loop travel times in Melbourne's east calculated by transport planners
Travel times across key spots in Melbourne's east would be up to 40 minutes faster under a completed first section of the Suburban Rail Loop project, data calculated by government transport planners suggests. Students travelling from Cheltenham to either Monash University in Clayton or Deakin University in Burwood would get there 40 minutes faster than on existing public transport options, and 24 and 29 minutes, respectively, faster than driving the route. People travelling between Box Hill and Cheltenham, home to the stations that will bookend the Suburban Rail Loop East, will save 30 minutes of car travel time, according to the report. The estimated travel times, which compare to both existing public transport and car-based options, are based on 2025 examples, but the $34.5 billion first leg of the orbital rail tunnel is not due to open until 2035. The report calculated future journey times along more than 40 routes, with a focus on population hubs, hospitals, medical centres and universities. It also showed how journeys to and from other parts of the city would be altered by the rail loop, with the inclusion of examples such as travel between Footscray and Deakin University in Burwood. The data suggests that journey would take 43 minutes — 6 minutes faster by public transport, and 11 minutes faster than driving. Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Harriet Shing, said the journey times showed the project would help Melbourne "grow well". "We know that at the moment people spend a lot of time in traffic, and they're having to go into the city before heading back out again," she said. As work progresses, the government has been compelled to defend the mammoth project amid issues including an Infrastructure Australia report casting doubt on the project's financial viability and concerns from residents in communities earmarked for major development. Monash University public transport expert Graham Currie said the estimated travel times laid out in the report were "quite conservative". "They've compared the railway to existing travel times by car," he said. The existing public transport journey times were calculated using the Public Transport Victoria app around 8am on a weekday, and the car travel times using Google Maps. The completion of SRL East will involve the construction of 26 kilometres of twin tunnels connecting six stations. Professor Currie said he believed residents in the city's east would support the project despite its cost and timeline. "The people that live in these suburbs have been car-dependent for a long time," he said. "They know the traffic's growing, and they're looking for an alternative, and this is a very attractive one. "It's expensive, though." The SRL project, first announced by the Victorian government in the lead-up to the 2018 state election, is due to be completed in three parts, with tunnel boring on SRL East to begin next year. It will be the most expensive infrastructure project in the state's history.
The Age
2 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Melbourne's transport divide: The Allan government's priorities are off track
In August 2018, three months out from the state election, then premier Daniel Andrews stepped out of the locomotive of Victorian government and changed the points on transport policy. Until then, his voting and taxpaying passengers had been heading towards destinations known as Metro 2, creating a new underground line between Newport and Clifton Hill via Fishermans Bend, and the Western Rail Plan, which would have seen train lines to Melton and Wyndham electrified to meet growing passenger demand and ultimately improved connections between Melbourne and the regional centres of Ballarat and Geelong. But that August a number of unscheduled stops were added to the route. Ministers, bureaucrats and key government agencies were all blindsided by 'the biggest public transport project in history', at first known as Operation Halo but now familiar to us as the Suburban Rail Loop. Originally costed at 'up to $50 billion', that has now become the estimate just for construction of the first two stages, connecting Cheltenham to Box Hill. That the eastern part of the loop was given priority – and, indeed, that the belated business case presented for it only considered that section of the mammoth project – both raised doubts about whether we would ever reach our earlier destinations. Those doubts were compounded when the government reneged on its commitments to build new lines to the city's west. This week our reporters' freedom of information requests unearthed a letter Paul Younis – this state's most senior transport bureaucrat – wrote to his Commonwealth counterpart a year ago. In it, he refers to a report warning of a transport crisis in Melbourne's northern and western suburbs if their rail systems are not comprehensively overhauled. Loading We can't show you that report because neither the Allan government nor the Albanese government will divulge it. But we have been covering the facts on which its conclusions are built for years. The west is the fastest-growing part of our capital, with estimates suggesting its population will reach 1.47 million people by 2046. In his letter, Younis wrote that 'more than twice the population of Canberra is forecast to move into [Melbourne's north and west] in the next 15 years'. Even as Australia's peak infrastructure body casts doubt on whether the SRL East can really be delivered to the projected time frame and cost, and calls on the Allan government to develop 'exit strategies', the rest of the city is left watching the screen and wondering if their service will ever arrive. The inhabitants of the north and west cannot continue to be so poorly connected to the rest of our city if our economy is to prosper. As opposition public transport spokesman Matthew Guy has said: 'The Suburban Rail Loop is a nice to have, but electrifying to Wallan, Melton and Wyndham Vale is a must-have.'
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
The secret rail plan to tackle ‘crush' hour in Melbourne's north and west
A secret government report warns passengers will face 'crush' conditions at train stations across Melbourne's fast-growing northern and western suburbs without an urgent overhaul of the rail system. The ambitious blueprint, which supports electrification of the Melton and Wyndham lines and extending the Upfield line, forecasts that without any action within the next five to 10 years, dozens of commuters will be left stranded on platforms every time a train comes. But the plan – which was the catalyst for the state and federal governments' $4 billion revamp of Sunshine Station – poses financial and political challenges for the cash-strapped Allan government. The price tag for the works is estimated to be comparable to the $34.5 billion first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). The report also refers to a proposal that would require people travelling from Ballarat to switch trains to go to the city. It raises sensitive political choices for a government committed to the SRL and wary of upsetting regional Victoria, but also under pressure to deliver on plans for the west first proposed in 2018. The urgency of the plan, which seeks to make public transport in Melbourne's west and north comparable to services long-enjoyed by commuters in more established parts of the city, is revealed in a letter written by Victoria's most senior transport bureaucrat and obtained by this masthead under freedom of information laws. 'The report's key finding is that due to significant population growth in the north and west of Melbourne – more than twice the population of Canberra is forecast to move into this region in the next 15 years – there is an urgent need to begin detailed development of rail capacity-boosting projects in the north and west,' then Department of Transport secretary Paul Younis wrote in a letter to his Commonwealth counterpart a year ago. While the Albanese and Allan governments refused to release the plan to this masthead under freedom of information laws, a dozen industry and government sources, including some of the document's contributing authors, confirmed its existence.
The Age
4 days ago
- Business
- The Age
The secret rail plan to tackle ‘crush' hour in Melbourne's north and west
A secret government report warns passengers will face 'crush' conditions at train stations across Melbourne's fast-growing northern and western suburbs without an urgent overhaul of the rail system. The ambitious blueprint, which supports electrification of the Melton and Wyndham lines and extending the Upfield line, forecasts that without any action within the next five to 10 years, dozens of commuters will be left stranded on platforms every time a train comes. But the plan – which was the catalyst for the state and federal governments' $4 billion revamp of Sunshine Station – poses financial and political challenges for the cash-strapped Allan government. The price tag for the works is estimated to be comparable to the $34.5 billion first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). The report also refers to a proposal that would require people travelling from Ballarat to switch trains to go to the city. It raises sensitive political choices for a government committed to the SRL and wary of upsetting regional Victoria, but also under pressure to deliver on plans for the west first proposed in 2018. The urgency of the plan, which seeks to make public transport in Melbourne's west and north comparable to services long-enjoyed by commuters in more established parts of the city, is revealed in a letter written by Victoria's most senior transport bureaucrat and obtained by this masthead under freedom of information laws. 'The report's key finding is that due to significant population growth in the north and west of Melbourne – more than twice the population of Canberra is forecast to move into this region in the next 15 years – there is an urgent need to begin detailed development of rail capacity-boosting projects in the north and west,' then Department of Transport secretary Paul Younis wrote in a letter to his Commonwealth counterpart a year ago. While the Albanese and Allan governments refused to release the plan to this masthead under freedom of information laws, a dozen industry and government sources, including some of the document's contributing authors, confirmed its existence.
