How cost of Sydney’s main metro station skyrocketed beyond secret forecasts
The Hunter Street station is set to become the most expensive on the line, with confidential estimates showing costs have blown out by more than $900 million.
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The skyrocketing cost of a train station beneath central Sydney for the Metro West rail line has been laid bare in the NSW government’s confidential estimates for the mega project, showing it has soared by more than $900 million above what was forecast just five years ago.
The surge in the price tag for the project’s signature station under Hunter Street in the city raises serious questions about what NSW taxpayers will be slugged for building several other stations along the 24-kilometre line that have yet to be awarded to contractors.
A render of an entrance to the Metro West station beneath Hunter Street n the Sydney CBD.
The Herald has obtained confidential forecasts – made in mid-2020 and revised in early 2025 – by Sydney Metro, which is responsible for the delivery of the government’s biggest transport project.
The government is now paying a Lendlease-led consortium $1.5 billion to build the station beneath Hunter Street, which the internal documents show is $908 million higher than the amount Sydney Metro forecast in mid-2020.
It is also about $420 million greater than agency estimates from eight months ago, making it easily Sydney’s most expensive metro station.
One explanation is that the government was left with a single bid for the Hunter Street station precinct, after Multiplex and Brookfield pulled out of the tender process early last year.
The cost of excavating the giant cavern beneath Hunter Street for the Metro West station is part of a separate $1.87 billion contract.Credit: Steven Siewert
The cost of building the station does not include the bill for excavating a giant cavern for it, which is part of a $1.87 billion contract for 3.5 kilometres of tunnels at the eastern end of the Metro West line. Nor does it include more than $4 billion spent on property acquisitions, including those in the CBD, for the entire project.
