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Three international consortia are in the running to build and run two Sydney light rail networks. The shortlisted consortia are the following:

• SydneyConnect: Serco, John Holland and Plenary Group,

• iLinQ: Keolis Downer, Balfour Beatty, McConnell Dowell, Bombardier and Macquarie Capital; and

• Connecting Sydney: Transdev, Alstom Transport Australia and Capella Capital.

NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said:

"These firms bring significant experience in working on similar scale projects, both here in Australia and right across the world. It is very encouraging that the strong participation in market sounding and industry briefings last year has translated into responses from high quality firms."

The contract will cover design, construction, services relocations, operation and maintenance of the 12-kilometre project, as well as the operation and maintenance of the Inner West Light Rail network.

The project is estimated to cost approximately A$1.6 billion. Subject to planning approvals, work is expected to commence in 2014 and is expected to take five or six years to complete.

Brendan Lyon, from Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, said:

"This project will be complex and difficult to deliver, with unavoidable impacts, so the depth of knowledge across the three consortia will undoubtedly bring global experience to Sydney's transport challenges."

The invitation for submissions of Expressions of Interest was released on 21 October 2013 and the deadline was 13 December 2013.