Tube Lines, Balfour, Carillion shortlisted for £90m London Overground deal

Tube Lines has been shortlisted along with Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Colas Rail for London Overground’s £90m rail maintenance contract for the East London Railway.

This is the first major rail contract Tube Lines has been shortlisted on, since it began its quest for work outside of the London Underground PPP contract earlier this year.

The seven-year maintenance contract for London Overground’s East London Railway is worth between £50m and £90m. It has a three year extension option and an option to reduce it to five years, subject to performance.

The winning bidder will oversee routine and reactive maintenance, refurbishment, signalling and structures work on the six-mile twin-track route.

Balfour Beatty will enter the fray with a double advantage. It did the maintenance on the line, formerly known as the East London Line, when it was part of the Metronet consortium.

In 2007 the line was closed to allow Balfour Beatty, in joint venture with Carillion, to commence work the £363m East London Line construction project, which will extend the existing East London Line to Dalston Junction in the North and to Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the South.

The line will open as the East London Railway in 2010, becoming part of the London Overground network.

A London Overground spokesman said: “We are looking for a contractor that can work with the employer as a team, to maintain the East London Railway in a safe and fully operable condition at an economic cost.”

The contract is expected to be awarded by February next year.