Four chosen for Lewisham DLR tender

The Docklands Light Railway has announced a shortlist of four private consortia to tender for the œ150 million Lewisham Extension. The winner will finance, build, own and maintain the extension under the Government's Private Finance Initiative.

The four groups were whittled down from an initial consortia of seven. The next stage of the competition will last about nine months with a winner selected before the end of the year. Construction should start in 1996 and be up and running in 1999.

Bids will be based on six stations, but a separate contractual and financial arrangement could be made for an extra station at Cutty Sark, if bidders so wish. The four shortlisted consortia are:

n Brown & Root, Amec and Dragados.

n Docklands Link Group: Wimpey, Aoki, Impregilo, Samuel Montague.

n Lewisham Extension Co: Serco, Babtie, Kier/Hochtief, Nikko Bank.

n Light Rail Group: Mowlem, GEC Alsthom Transportation Projects, Stagecoach Holdings, Mitsui, London Electricity.