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ALICE SPRINGS TO DARWIN RAIL LINK WINS PREMIER NORTHERN TERRITORY ENGINEERING AWARD
Parkside, South Australia - Innovative engineering and a multi-billion dollar contribution to the economy of the Northern Territory have earned the Alice Springs to Darwin Rail Link the highest accolade from the engineering profession in the Top End. The $1.4 billion project has been awarded the 2004 Engineering Excellence Award by Engineers Australia's Northern Division. The construction of the 1420km rail link was project managed by one of Australia's largest engineering and construction firms, KBR. KBR is the engineering, construction and services subsidiary of Halliburton (HAL: NYSE).
One of KBR's young engineers, Hannah Clement, also won the title of the Northern Territory's Young Professional Engineer of the Year.
Led by engineering companies who were instrumental in bringing the rail vision to reality - from planning the project, to financing, construction and now operation of the railway - the project has rightly been hailed as a major infrastructure achievement and a significant shot in the arm to the Northern Territory.
Accepting the award, KBR's chief engineer Tony Dawson paid tribute to the teamwork from KBR's other engineering and construction partners, Barclay Mowlem, John Holland and Macmahon, which enabled the rail link to be completed five months ahead of schedule.
"We worked as a unified team on this project - there was an extraordinary amount of cooperation. I thank Engineers Australia for acknowledging the contribution of this project and I am proud to accept this award on behalf of us all," Mr Dawson said.
"The commitment and skills of thousands of people permitted the extraordinarily fast construction of massive amounts of track, earthworks, culverts and bridges and resulted in many engineering innovations.
"Engineers drove the innovation process, creating a fertile environment in which all of those involved - from the designers and construction teams to the operations and maintenance staff - contributed ideas to achieve the best 'constructability'."
Among many achievements were:
- A 150,000 reduction in the number of sleepers needed - the equivalent of 100km of track
- New hydraulic techniques which cut the costs and materials used in standard culvert construction
- Standardised bridge design which enabled 93 bridges to be built at an average of one per week. Another innovation enabled the major bridges to be completed months ahead of schedule. This technique has already been adapted to two bridges being constructed on the Ballarat line by the Thiess-Alstom joint venture to KBR's design.
The intellectual property resulting from the engineering innovations has been shared with the profession through published technical papers.
"One of the most significant benefits of this project to the engineering profession has been the opportunity for our up and coming young engineers to gain experience on a project the scale of which they are likely to see only a few times in their professional careers in Australia," Mr Dawson said.
Key benefits of the project included:
- 95% of construction costs spent in the Northern Territory and South Australia, well up from the project target of 75%
- 1300 jobs created for the whole project, of which 274 were for indigenous people
- a conservative estimate of several billion dollars in economic impact for the Northern Territory and South Australia (Access Economics' report, 1999)
- saving of 11 million tonnes of diesel fuel over next 50 years compared with road transport
Key facts:
- 1420km of new track
- 15 million cubic metres of earthworks
- 93 bridges
- more than 1400 drainage culverts built with more than 10,000 pipes
- 2.5 million tonnes of ballast
- two million sleepers
- 142,000 tonnes of rail with 105,000 welds
- 8 million fastening clips
- three terminals
KBR is a global engineering, procurement and services company. Whether designing a chemical plant, serving as a defence industry contractor, or providing capital construction, KBR delivers world-class service and performance. KBR employs 83,000 people in 43 countries around the world.
Halliburton, founded in 1919, is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries. The company serves its customers with a broad range of products and services through its Energy Services Group and Engineering and Construction Group business segments.
Contact
Sonia Green
sonia.green@halliburton.com
KBR
Public Relations - Australia
(p) 61.8.8301.1442
Patrice Mingo
patrice.mingo@halliburton.com
KBR
Public Relations - Houston
(p) 713.753.3011
Employment Contact
Overseas & US Employment with KBR
www.kbrjobs.com
(p) 866.308.5239
US Employment with Halliburton
www.halliburton.com
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Supplier/Procurement Contact
kbr_supplier_relations@halliburton.com
Supplier Diversity Contact
Erin Petkovich
supplier_diversity@halliburton.com
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