£700m Crossrail contracts delayed to give bidders time

Contracts to build stations and carriages for Crossrail are to be delayed.

Rail chiefs were set to award contracts for six stations by the end of this year. But the decision on who carries out the £700 million building projects at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road and Liverpool Street will now not be decided until the spring to give the bidding companies more time to prepare.

In addition, bosses of the £14.5 billion cross-London rail link are to delay the selection of which company will build the carriages until after a review of competition guidelines.

Crossrail chiefs insisted that the delays will not affect the date for the landmark project to be completed. But it has already been delayed by two years, with services now due to start in December 2018 from Paddington to Whitechapel and probably to Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood.

The move to delay the train contract comes after Derby-based train manufacturer Bombardier lost out on a £1.4 billion contract to supply rolling stock to German company Siemens.

In delaying the Crossrail carriage decision until after the competition review, UK companies may be less likely to lose out to European competitors.