Competition hots up for Borders railway contract

Published on Wednesday 17 March 2010 21:44

FIVE groups are to compete to build the Borders railway, with the number of initial bids appearing to confirm ministers' confidence of strong interest in the uniquely-funded project.

A shortlist of three is due to be announced in May, who will lodge detailed bids to fund, build and operate 30 miles of new track between the south-east edge of Edinburgh and Tweedbank, two miles south of Galashiels.

The route, due to be re-opened in 2014 after a gap of 45 years, will be built using a novel "non-profit distributing" approach untried on the railways, with the line run separately from the rest of the British network. The contract accounts for up to 230 million of the 295m scheme. The Scottish Government's Transport Scotland agency said: "We have received five prequalification submissions and will be undertaking due diligence before any bidder can be formally invited to tender."

Fenella Mason, a construction lawyer with Edinburgh law firm Burness, said some industry nervousness had been allayed with the triggering of a so-called Mastermind "I've started so I'll finish" clause two weeks ago, when transport minister Stewart Stevenson launched preliminary work.

The clause, committing ministers to completing the line, was inserted by MSPs worried only one sixth of it would be built, from Edinburgh to Gorebridge in Midlothian. However, Ms Mason said there had been "dithering" among firms over forming consortia for the project."