Department for Transport

Invitation to tender issued for 200 new diesel train carriages
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date 22 Dec 2008 14:39
source Department for Transport
type Press release

note DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT News Release (204) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 22 December 2008

Government plans to improve journeys for rail passengers on some of the nation's busiest routes took a major step forward today as train manufacturers were invited to bid for a £300M project to build 200 new carriages Transport Minister Andrew Adonis announced.

Rail passengers in the Thames Valley, around Bristol and on longer distances in Northern England will benefit from the extra carriages which are due to start carrying passengers by 2012 following negotiations with First Great Western, Trans-Pennine Express and Northern rail franchises.

The project is part of the Chancellor's pre-budget review, announced last month, which will see an extra £1bn dedicated to accelerating major transport projects like this next year.

Andrew Adonis said:

"This is tremendous news for passengers who could soon have more comfortable and reliable journeys thanks to the acceleration of plans for the delivery of these 200 new rail carriages."

"This Invitation to Tender should be seen as a clear signal that the Government is committed to improving capacity on the rail network, subject to a satisfactory conclusion of the procurement process and negotiations with the relevant franchises."

The Government's commitment to increasing capacity on the rail network from 2009 to 2014 was set out in the July 2007 Rail White Paper, requiring the purchase of 1,300 additional carriages as part of our High level Output Specification. 423 of the 1,300 vehicles have already been ordered and this potential new order would increase that to 623 carriages. In addition, DfT is negotiating with other train operators for the purchase of a further 120 new carriages and, over the next 12 months, would expect to see orders for a further 250 carriages. By the end of next year, orders for around 1,000 new carriages are likely to have been placed.

The successful pre-qualifiers to whom an ITT will be issued today for the manufacture of the 200 DMU vehicles are:

1. Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd

2. CAF - Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.

3. CSRE LTD - Chinese Sourced Railway Equipment on behalf of CSR Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock Co. Ltd

4. Hyundai Rotem Company

Notes to Editors
1. As well the 200 new DMUs the £700m fiscal stimulus announced in last month's Pre-Budget Report will also deliver new fast link between the A1 and M1 by dualling the missing section of A46 from Newark to Widmerpool, subject to the outcome of statutory processes and funding confirmation from the Region. This could enable the scheme to open to traffic in late 2011 - rather than in 2016 as previously planned; and the acceleration of work to make better use of our motorways, following examination into the feasibility of introducing hard-shoulder running on around 500 lane miles of Britain's motorways.

2. The Government's commitment to increasing capacity on the rail network from 2009 to 2014 was set out in the July 2007 Rail White Paper. It is likely to require 1,300 additional carriages. This was described in the DfT Rolling Stock Plan published in January 2008.

3. Today's Invitation to Tender follows the issuing of a Contract Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 1st December 2008.

4. Closing date for bids is 16th February and it is anticipated that an announcement on the preferred bidder will be made in April.

Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300
Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk

Railhub Archive ::: 2008-12-22 DfT-001