CPB Contractors, SMEC named to build six-platform Sunshine hub

Sunshine Station, in the City of Brimbank in Melbourne’s west, is set to grow into a six-platform transport hub after the Victorian government named the Network Integration Program Alliance as preferred bidder on 21 October 2026. The alliance of CPB Contractors and SMEC will untangle about six kilometres of track between West Footscray and Albion, creating capacity for 1,000 trains a day under Stage 1 of Melbourne Airport Rail, the Premier of Victoria said in a media release.

Why it matters

Sunshine Station sits at the junction of the regional lines into Melbourne’s west, and the current track layout is the bottleneck the government has pointed to for years when explaining why regional and metro services through the corridor cannot run more often. Naming a preferred bidder moves that bottleneck fix from a planning line item to a contracted build, with CPB Contractors and SMEC now the alliance partner responsible for delivering it.

For the construction sector, the appointment confirms which firms carry the next multi-year tranche of work on one of the state’s largest transport projects, at a point when several Big Build packages are moving from design into construction. For passengers, Stage 1’s track untangling is the step that has to happen before more frequent Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo line services, or electrification of the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines, can follow.

Minister for Public Transport Vicki Ward said: “Untangling the tracks will create capacity for 1,000 trains a day, including future airport services.”

The numbers

Stage 1 work at Sunshine itself covers two new platforms for regional trains, an extended concourse, new forecourts on both sides of the station and an upgraded bus interchange, taking the station to six platforms in total. The core engineering task is untangling roughly six kilometres of track between West Footscray and Albion, which the government says creates capacity for 1,000 trains a day, including future airport services, once complete.

Three of the five Stage 1 work packages are already awarded, covering utility relocation, track reconfiguration, new rail bridges and the new Tottenham Station. The Sunshine package is the fourth. The fifth, for a new Albion Station, is due to be awarded in 2027. The government has set 2030 as the completion year for Stage 1.

Stage 2 is separate and larger in reach: works begin within weeks and are due for completion in 2031 when passenger trains will run to a new Keilor East station. No dollar figure for either stage was given in the release.

What’s next

With a preferred bidder named for the Sunshine package, the state’s remaining Stage 1 procurement is the fifth package, the new Albion Station, due for award in 2027. Stage 1’s 2030 completion date is the marker regional commuters on the Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo lines will be watching, since more frequent services on those lines are tied to the track untangling finishing on schedule.

Stage 2 construction starts within weeks, running in parallel with Stage 1 through to its own 2031 completion. Member for Maribyrnong Jo Briskey said the extra platforms will give Keilor East, Keilor Park and Airport West commuters direct Metro Tunnel access for the first time. For contractors bidding Big Build work in the west, Albion in 2027 is the next package to watch. The same week, the state locked in delivery partners for 5,400-plus homes at Arden Central, beside the Metro Tunnel’s Arden Station.