Crossrail Contracts For Joint Venture
16 June 2010
The UK's biggest rail infrastructure project is stepping up a
gear. A Costain-Skanska joint venture has won the initial contracts
for two tunnel portals that will take the Crossrail railway
underneath London.
After years of planning, Crossrail is now underway. When
complete in 2017, it will offer a new, high-frequency rail route
starting at Maidenhead in the west through central London and out
to the east, forking to Shenfield, near Brentwood in Essex and to
Abbey Wood in southeast London.
It will add 10% to London's public transport capacity. Crossrail
will carry close to 75,000 passengers every hour, significantly
reducing journey times and providing quicker and easier
interchanges.
Last May a Costain-Skanska joint venture was selected as one of
several contractors for Crossrail's advance works civils framework
agreement, a four-year programme worth £100 million.
Now, the JV has won the contract to create the tunnel portal at
Royal Oak, just outside Paddington Station in west London. This
will be the transition ramp for Crossrail trains entering and
exiting the central London tunnels.
Costain-Skanska has also won the contract for the second portal
at Pudding Mill Lane, near the Stratford Olympic site.
A major challenge for the JV team will be working in close
proximity to existing, live LU and NR railway lines and the A40
Westway. "Royal Oak is incredibly cramped," notes Lee Davies,
Costain's Sector Director for Rail. "There's a lot of heavy
engineering to do in a small space, which will require careful
planning and sequencing and be constructed without any disruption
to the railway."
Work on both sites is already underway. Royal Oak is due to
be completed in June and Pudding Mill Lane in 2013.
The longer timescale for the second portal is necessitated by
waiting for other aspects of the project to catch up. "There's a
lot of works at the front end, then a period of relatively little
work where other works are undertaken. We then complete our
part."
Among the complications at the east London site is the diversion
of an 11 Kv underground electricity cable, diaphragm walls for the
tunnel and construction of the City Mill River Bridge adjacent to
Docklands Light Railway.
These advance works are just the start, however. "The main works
are an order of magnitude bigger," says Davies. For the civils
work, Costain and Skanska are teaming up with Bilfinger Berger,
Europe's leading tunnelling contractor. Davies hopes that Costain's
early involvement in the project will give it an edge when it comes
to bidding for the main works.
"Being involved in the advance works gives us an insight
into the client, his methods of procurement and, in a small way,
the challenges of the job," he says. Technical challenges for
whoever wins the main works, he adds, will include picking a route
through the sheer density of underground utilities criss-crossing
the capital and securing the necessary resources and skills for the
job. Pre-qualification work for stations and civils aspects of the
main project is underway.
Around £2 billion has already been spent on Crossrail, mainly on
design and land procurement. "It's at the position where it's gone
too far to be easily and sensibly cancelled," believes Davies.
"Having said that, we will always be tasked with demonstrating
value for money, affordability and a commitment to driving down
costs."
Ends