A consortium comprising Swiss rail construction firm Sersa and Amey, a subsidiary of Spanish infrastructure company Ferrovial Servicios, has been selected as the preferred bidder for a UK railway improvement contract.
The contract is valued at approximately £550m and Amey has a share of roughly €385m.
The scope of the contract includes the refurbishment of railway switches and crossings for Network Rail over ten years.
Improvements will be implemented across the company’s network in Scotland, north Wales, east Midlands, as well as the north-east and north-western areas of London.
By reducing the impact on rail traffic and the associated costs, the approach adopted by the consortium is expected to complete switch and crossing renewals in eight hours.
The contract forms a part of Network Rail’s £25bn investment programme to expand and improve UK railways.
Network Rail has also awarded a contract worth £400m to Colas URS for switches and crossings renewals in Anglia, Kent and Sussex, Wessex and Wales.
In addition, the UK rail operator has selected Babcock, Carillion and Colas for a conventional track renewal system across various parts of the country during the next five years.
Network Rail track programme director Steve Featherstone said: "Our full-time, professional high output track renewals workforce is fundamental to delivering a safe, reliable railway. By creating a single team within Network Rail, we can make step changes in training and development, in order to further improve safety and productivity within this key part of the industry."
Image: Amey, Sersa to renew switches and crossings in Britain railway network. Photo: courtesy of Ferrovial.
