The Government signed a contract in December 2014 with ALTRAC Light Rail, a consortium comprising Acciona Infrastructure Australia, Alstom, Capella Capital, and Transdev.17 The estimated cost had already gone up by this time, to $2.1 billion, due mostly to mispricing and omissions in the business case.18
Further overruns were caused by the unexpectedly high cost of digging up and replacing powerlines on George Street. In April 2018, the consortium filed a lawsuit in the NSW Supreme Court, alleging that the NSW Government had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct when providing information regarding Ausgrid powerlines.19
The NSW Government reached a settlement with the contractors. The cost to Government for the settlement was $576 million, which included incentive payments ($44 million) and a two-year extension to ALTRAC's licence to operate the light rail (worth $221 million).20
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17. Audit Office of New South Wales (2016, p. 26).
18. Ibid (p. 4).
19. Audit Office of New South Wales (2020, p. 6).
20. Ibid (p. 6).