1995-05-30 Steven Norris launches competition for Croydon Tramlink (Department of Transport)

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date 2 October 1995
source Department of Transport
type Press release

note 310

The announcement of four consortia who will bid for the concession to
finance, build, operate and maintain Croydon Tramlink was welcomed
today by Steven Norris, Minister for Transport in London.

Welcoming the announcement, Mr Norris said:

"The announcement of this short-list of bidders marks welcome and
significant progress for Croydon Tramlink.

"Croydon Tramlink is an excellent example of how the Government's
Private Finance Initiative can bring the public and private sectors
together for the benefit of the travelling public, where a
traditional public sector scheme could not have been afforded.

"I believe that the bidding between four consortia will produce a
robust competition, with as little call on public funds as possible.

"Grant has been set aside towards Tramlink but the award of a
concession has to be subject to affordable bids for grant being
received. That is why I am particularly pleased to see four strong
contenders selected for the competition."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Croydon Tramlink is a 28 km light rail network which will link
Croydon with Wimbledon, Beckenham and New Addington. It has been
jointly promoted by London Transport and the London Borough of
Croydon and will be taken forward under the Private Finance
Initiative

2. The scheme has been designed by the promoters in collaboration
with a private sector consortium (Tarmac, AEG and Transdev). This
arrangement was designed to harness as much technical and commercial
private sector experience as possible. This consortium had to
pre-qualify on equal terms with other consortia to bid for the
concession to finance, build, operate and maintain Tramlink.

3. On 13 December 1994, the Secretary of State announced that he
would be setting aside funds to provide a public sector grant for the
scheme. The size of the grant will be determined by the bids
received and the award of the concession is dependent on their being
at a satisfactory level. It is expected that a substantial part of
the funding will come from the private sector.

4. Mr Norris launched the competition to select the concessionaire
on 30 May. Following the end of the pre-qualification on 15
September, London Transport have announced four consortia to bid
formally for the concession. (ALTRAM: John Laing/Ansaldo
Trasporti/Serco Group; CROYDON CONNECT: Tarmac/AEG/Transdev; CT LIGHT
RAIL GROUP: GEC Alsthom/Mowlems/Welsh Water; TRAMTRACK CROYDON:
CentreWest/Royal Bank of Scotland/McAlpines/Amey
Construction/Bombardier Eurorail).

5. The successful bidder should be announced in the spring.

Railhub Archive ::: 1995-10-02 DoT-001