Crossrail awards tunnelling contracts
Crossrail awards tunnelling contracts Dec 2010
Crossrail News Release
Route of the Crossrail underground alignment

Route of the Crossrail underground alignment

Crossrail has confirmed today award of the following contracts for the central underground section of the project beneath London.
C300: The Western Running Tunnels (Royal Oak to Farringdon)
Awarded to the joint venture comprising: BAM Nuttall Ltd, Ferrovial Agroman (UK) Ltd, Kier Construction Ltd.
C305: The Eastern Running Tunnels (Limmo Peninsula to Farringdon; Limmo Peninsula to Victoria Dock; Stepney Green to Pudding Mill Lane)
Awarded to the joint venture comprising: Dragados S.A., John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd.
C410: Early Access Shafts and Sprayed Concrete Lining Works for Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road stations tunnels
Awarded to the joint venture comprising: BAM Nuttall Ltd, Ferrovial Agroman (UK) Ltd, Kier Construction Ltd.
C510: Early Access Shafts and Sprayed Concrete Lining Works for Whitechapel and Liverpool Street stations tunnels
Awarded to the joint venture comprising: Alpine BeMo Tunnelling GmbH, Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd, Morgan Sindall (Infrastructure) plc, VINCI Construction Grands Projects.
It is intended that C300 and C410 is the subject of a combined award as the new delivery programme allows Crossrail to take advantage of cost-efficiencies in this particular tunnelling section.
These are the most significant tunnel contracts to be awarded in the UK since the Jubilee Line Extension and Channel Tunnel Rail Link and will provide a much-needed boost to UK construction as well as creating major employment opportunities.
The contracts, worth in the region of £1.25bn, will deliver the construction of 18km of twin-bore tunnels underneath central London. Nearly 21km of twin-bore tunnel will be constructed for Crossrail. Tunnelling activity will commence in late 2011 with the first tunnel boring machine (TBM) starting out on its journey in spring 2012.
The contracts being awarded today are the first of nearly thirty major contracts that will be awarded by Crossrail over the next eighteen months. A further series of tunnelling contracts will be awarded in 2011 including the Thames Tunnel between Plumstead and Woolwich and remaining contracts for tunnel portals and station platform tunnels.
Crossrail will boost London’s rail capacity by ten per cent, delivering new journey opportunities, faster journey times and up to 24 trains per hour between Paddington and Whitechapel during the peak.
In line with European procurement requirements, there now follows a minimum ten day stand-still period before the award of contracts can be confirmed.
Rob Holden, Crossrail Chief Executive said: "Crossrail has now reached a very significant milestone with the award of the main tunnel contracts. The value of the contracts, combined with the length of tunnel to be constructed, is on a scale not seen in the UK since the Jubilee Line Extension or the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Tunnelling activity will get underway in late 2011.
"Significant competition in the construction industry for Crossrail work has delivered highly competitive bids. Over £1bn in savings to Crossrail's construction costs have been identified to-date in part due to a more efficient construction timetable and these contract awards will help secure these savings. Crossrail will award a further series of tunnel construction contracts in 2011 including the new Thames Tunnel between North Woolwich and Plumstead.

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