Manco Rail boosts NZ engineering sector with multi-million dollar Sydney tunnel contract
Auckland company Manco Rail has given New Zealand’s engineering sector a multi-million dollar boost by securing a contract to supply specialised equipment for two 15 kilometre rail tunnels being built under Sydney Harbour. Manco Rail won an international tender against Australian and European competitors to supply automated equipment to transport the rail through the two tunnels, lay the sleepers, and then thread the rail onto the sleepers. All this equipment is radio-remote-controlled. Manco is also supplying the equipment to install the overhead wire to power the trains. The New South Wales Government, via Sydney Metro Trains, is in the advanced stages of building the north and south tunnels under Sydney Harbour and a significant amount of equipment will be shipped out on 2 July. Manco Rail managing director Bryan Black said the contract, worth tens of millions of dollars, will secure employment for about 300 people and provide new jobs for the 40 New Zealand companies supplying Manco with components. “Manco Rail has about 75 employees at three locations in New Zealand but we have three times that number in long-term subcontractor alliances, mainly throughout the North Island. We have taken on six additional university-qualified design engineers, three auto-electricians, and a wide range of skilled engineering personnel from many industries including some redundancies from the airline industry.” Manco Rail’s subcontractors for the Sydney project include: Gaminco, a large Tauranga machining company with world-class facilities which does extensive work for John Deere, G90 Engineering and Juno Engineering in Matamata which supply machine and fabricated parts, Piako Engineering in Morrinsville which supplies fabricated parts, and 35 other New Zealand companies, mostly locally owned, which supply a range of hydraulics, electronics, and radio-control equipment. Mr Black said the capability of the New Zealand engineering sector is constantly underestimated. “Many of these companies are third-generation […]