Media centre

Tuesday 22 Feb 2005

NETWORK RAIL AWARDS NEW, EFFICIENT CIVIL ENGINEERING

Region & Route:

National

Network Rail today announced the award of its new, five-year civil engineering renewal contracts. The multi-million pound, five year ‘framework’ renewals contracts represent a key element of Network Rail’s task of rebuilding Britain’s railway and will deliver cost reductions and significant improvements in value for money through:- ·        more integrated methods of working ·        reduction in overheads ·        competitive pricing ·        benchmarking unit rates for standardised work types ·        Pain / gain incentives tied to key performance indicators The contracts form an integral part of the company’s drive to improve the condition of its assets whilst at the same time delivering better train service performance and reducing costs. Network Rail Chief Executive John Armitt said: “The award of these contracts is a significant step toward our goal of controlling costs, whilst delivering a safer, more reliable railway infrastructure and better train performance. The huge task of rebuilding our railway is well underway.” These contracts are ‘framework’ contracts and thus have no guaranteed work levels. However estimated values for the first year of the contract, and some more details on areas and contractors selected are as follows: Contractor Area Length of contract Est. 1st year value Birse North West 5 years £25 million Birse Midlands 5 years £20 million Recently let (26 January 2005) May Gurney London & the North East 5 years £25 million Kier East Anglia 5 years £20 million Existing contracts McAlpine Thames Valley, the South West & Wales March 2010 Nuttall The South East September 2006 Still to be let TBA Scotland 5 years TBA