Network Rail has chosen four contractors as preferred suppliers for building and civil engineering framework contracts worth £1.2Bn over five years.
Volker Fitzpatrick, Costain, Bam Nuttall and Geoffrey Osborne will start work in April on the frameworks covering routes in London and the south east. The framework accounts for almost 50% of Network Rail’s £2.5Bn planned works investment in this region over the period up to 2019.
The frameworks will deliver longer platforms for the longer trains that will be needed on key commuter routes in Anglia, Kent, Sussex and Wessex to cope with an expected high demand growth for rail travel, with an extra 400 million train journeys forecast by 2020.
Other works will include station enhancements, new footbridges, and upgrades to structures such as bridges, embankments and tunnels to improve the resilience of the railway infrastructure.
Network Rail’s Southern Regional Director for infrastructure projects Nick Elliot said: “To help meet growth in demand our plans for the next five years will help deliver a 20% increase in the number of seats into London at the busiest times of day.
“We’ll do this not only through big, high profile schemes, but also by targeted investment to lengthen platforms, improve stations, increase accessibility and make our infrastructure more reliable across London and the south east.”
Safety was given a higher rating in the procurement process than ever before, with a 15% weighting in evaluating bids. Collaboration accounted for 25% of the evaluation criteria as Network Rail wants to promote collaborative working and transparency with the supply chain.
The NEC3 contract will be used for the frameworks, a first for Network Rail, to help encourage and facilitate suppliers to work closer with Network Rail from initial development to delivery.
