Lend Lease and a Leighton Holdings subsidiary have been awarded work on Victoria’s regional rail link.

Lend Lease’s Abigroup business was awarded a contract worth about $750 million for work on the city to Maribyrnong River section of the rail line.

Leighton subsidiary John Holland was awarded a $570 million contract for work on the same stage of the rail project, which will separate regional trains from metropolitan trains on the Melbourne rail network.

The first stage will involve the design and construction of a new rail line for country passenger services between Footscray and Southern Cross stations in Melbourne.

Construction will being in the coming months, and is expected to be completed by 2016, John Holland said.