Skip to main content

Kapsch secures deal for Westgate Tunnel tolling roadside systems

Kapsch TrafficCom Australia will deliver the tolling roadside system for the West Gate Tunnel Project under construction in Melbourne, Australia. Kapsch TrafficCom Australia was contracted by CPB Contractors John Holland Joint Venture to deliver the technology. It will be based upon the company’s single gantry multilane free-flow platform and next-generation stereoscopic vision technology for both vehicle detection and classification as well as automatic number plate recognition. “Almost 20 years ago Kaps
June 4, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Kapsch TrafficCom Australia will deliver the tolling roadside system for the West Gate Tunnel Project under construction in Melbourne, Australia.


259 Kapsch TrafficCom Australia was contracted by CPB Contractors 4755 John Holland Joint Venture to deliver the technology. It will be based upon the company’s single gantry multilane free-flow platform and next-generation stereoscopic vision technology for both vehicle detection and classification as well as automatic number plate recognition.

“Almost 20 years ago Kapsch delivered the world’s first multilane free flow tolling system in Australia,” said André Laux, chief operating officer at Kapsch TrafficCom, based in Vienna, Austria, and which has subsidiaries and branches in more than 30 countries.

The 5km West Gate Tunnel - to be open in 2022 - will deliver an alternative to the West Gate Bridge, providing a second river crossing and removing thousands of trucks from residential streets. Originally called the Western Distributor, it will link the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville with CityLink at Docklands via a tunnel beneath Yarraville.

Meanwhile, the first of the two tunnel boring machines will soon arrive in Melbourne, according to the state government. A steel frame is going up for the 90m x 180m spoil shed at the Yarraville tunnelling site. Work continues at the northern portal to build the tunnel entrance and where the two TBMs will be launched.

The TBMs will be 90m long, weighing up to 4,000tonnes each and standing 15.6m in diameter. It will be the first time a full-scale TBM has been used in Victoria. Two huge retaining walls have been built either side of the tunnel site, with around 1,000 support columns driven into the ground to help keep workers safe on site.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Herrenknecht’s benefits from Indian orders
    November 30, 2012
    German company Herrenknecht says that in recent months it has received 18 orders from India for tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for projects to expand metro networks in the Indian cities of Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, and for water supply schemes. Earlier this year an Indian record of 525m of drilled and secured tunnel was achieved in one month on the Veligonda water project (state of Andhra Pradesh) with a Herrenknecht Double Shield TBM (diameter 7.9m). The 18km Veligonda Tunnel is part of a sche
  • Bentley’s Be Inspired Awards highlight innovation in software use
    January 6, 2015
    Innovation, from design to on-site execution, is alive and well, thanks to a good helping of software application. David Arminas reports from software developer Bentley’s annual global conference, held this year in London Successful project delivery is increasingly about hard men and women using software to get the job done and this year’s global conference in London by US-based software developer Bentley highlighted some innovative - and startling - examples. As usual, the Year in Infrastructure 2014
  • Work for Melbourne’s major tunnel project restarts
    March 12, 2018
    Construction work is restarting on Melbourne’s West Gate tunnel project. Construction of the tolled tunnel link is costing US$5.2 billion (A$6.7 billion). The project is controversial and has met with considerable political opposition in Australia. Those against the link say that building a second river crossing is not necessary and that it will merely increase travel costs for drivers as it will be tolled. However those in favour of the link say that it is required due to the heavy traffic congestion. A
  • Webuild is investing in underground technology
    May 15, 2024
    Italian firm Webuild is investing in underground construction technology.