07.01.15
Contract awarded for £40m Bakerloo Line link
The contract to design and build the Paddington link tunnel has been awarded to Costain Skanska Joint Venture, London Underground has announced.
The pedestrian tunnel will link the new Crossrail station and the Bakerloo Line platforms and the contract is worth approximately £40m, TfL says.
LU used a new procurement process, known as the Innovative Contractor Engagement (ICE) model, which assesses the bids made by contractors for the value that their proposal adds to the project. It was also used on the Bank Station Upgrade contract awarded in 2013.
According to LU the winning bid by Costain Skanska Joint Venture will enhance the value of the Bakerloo line link by 25%, mainly through reducing passenger journey times compared with initial designs, and it will help to reduce the level of disruption caused to customers while the link is built.
Other shortlisted bidders beat out by Costain Skanska include Dragados and consortium of Morgan Sindall and Bemo Tunnelling.
David Waboso, LU's director of capital programmes, said: “This is the second successful application of the ICE procurement approach, providing both our customers and our business with significantly enhanced value. Increasingly, ICE is allowing the market to provide us with better value infrastructure than traditional approaches.”
Paddington is one of the busiest stations on the Tube network and to alleviate the demand additional passengers will place on existing infrastructure once Crossrail arrives, it is necessary to build a new link between Crossrail and the Bakerloo line.
Around 85,000 passengers interchange to and from the Bakerloo line each day and this is set to increase to over 115,000 when Crossrail starts serving Paddington at the end of 2018.
Simon Wright, Crossrail Programme Director, said: “Crossrail is now 60% complete and we are on time and within budget. The Bakerloo line link, being delivered by London Underground, is an integral part of Crossrail. When complete, Crossrail will significantly reduce journey times from Paddington to the West End, the City and Docklands. From Paddington, passengers will be able to reach Tottenham Court Road in four minutes, Liverpool Street in ten minutes and Canary Wharf in 17 minutes.”
The new link will be completed by the end of 2018 in time for Crossrail opening.
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