Reliance Rail involves the financing, designing, manufacturing and maintenance of 78 next-generation, electrified “Waratah” train sets (comprising 626 traincars) serving Sydney in New South Wales Australia.
THE BACKGROUND
The project is a public private partnership (PPP) investment and generates a fully availability-based revenue stream extending to 2044 with the counterparty being Sydney Trains, Sydney’s suburban passenger rail operator, part of Transport for New South Wales, an executive agency of the New South Wales government.
The scope of this PPP project is broader than the delivery of the 626 carriages – the largest rolling stock order ever ordered by an Australian rail operator. It includes a contract to maintain the fleet, as well the associated design, construction and maintenance of a technologically advanced maintenance centre, and the provision of simulators for crew training. These were completed and have been operating since 2010 and the fleet of trains was delivered into full operational service in 2014.
INPP has held a small minority interest in the project since 2006 which since 2012 was carried at nominal value only. Whilst the operational performance of the project has been excellent, equity value had been repressed by the complexity of the project’s original structure. In November 2017 INPP made an additional investment into the project as part of a broader refinancing of the project which restored the original value of INPP’s existing investment and, on a blended basis of the new and existing capital, provides INPP with an attractive level of return.
Facts
Project capital cost
AUD2.4bn
Size of maintenance depot
16,000sqm
SDGs Supported
