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Crossrail, Europe’s largest infrastructure project, has delayed the award of a contract to supply trains for the $26bn project to save money, a move which could allow the British government’s review of public procurement to be taken into account.
Crossrail, a project to build a new railway link under central London, said it had pushed back the tendering for 60 new carriages to 2014 from late 2013.
“Crossrail had identified that significant operational cost savings, running into tens of millions, can be realised for taxpayers by introducing rolling stock to the rail network over a shorter period of time,” Crossrail’s programme director Andy Mitchell said in a statement.
“As a consequence of the shorter delivery timescales, contract award is not required until 2014 and therefore the issuing of tender documents can be deferred, allowing the conclusions of the government’s review of public procurement to be taken into account.”
The review was announced in the wake of a controversial decision in June to award a consortium led by Germany’s Siemens a contract to build 1,200 train carriages for London’s Thameslink commuter line service.
Canada’s Bombardier - the only remaining train builder in Britain - said in July that it was cutting 1,400 jobs at its plant in Derby, central England, after it lost out on the Thameslink deal .
Crossrail, which will link Heathrow west of London to the east of the city through huge new tunnels, also said France’s Alstom Transport — best known for building France’s TGV high-speed trains — had pulled out of the bidding.
This leaves Bombardier, Siemens, Spain’s CAF and Japan’s Hitachi competing to win the work.
Britain’s RMT union said Siemens should be striped of its preferred-bidder status on the Thameslink tender and the work given to Bombardier in Derby instead.
“The delay to the Crossrail fleet tender is an admission by the government that they got the Thameslink contract wrong and as well as learning lessons for the future they should now do the decent thing and award that work to Bombardier in Derby before it is too late,” said RMT general secretary Bob Crowe.
The opening of Crossrail was pushed back until late 2018 from 2017 in last year’s spending review to cut the project’s cost.
Crossrail now expects tender documents to be issued in 2012, having previously expected them to be issued in late 2011, with contract awards due in late 2013.
Rolling stock will be introduced onto the Great Eastern Main Line from May 2017, rather than December 2016, Crossrail added.