Bam and Morgan Sindall among contractors named on £2bn rail framework

Network Rail has named Bam Nuttall and Morgan Sindall among five contractors on a bumper eight-year framework.The firms are joined on the £2bn programme by Vinci’s civil engineering division Taylor Woodrow, Barnsley-based civil engineering firm AmcoGiffen, and Surrey-based contractor Octavius, which focuses on transport.The jobs will cover essential renewal work to structures including bridges, tunnels, culverts and drainage across Wales and the West of England. The contractors will also be responsible for supplying and maintaining plant and electrification.Work will start in 2024 and run until 2029, with the option to extend the programme to eight years in total.The framework is split into six separate contracts, with Morgan Sindall scooping the contract for ongoing maintenance and renewal of assets in the West of England.Bam will work specifically on geotechnical and off-track drainage work in Wales and the Borders, with Taylor Woodrow taking on the same tasks in the West of England.Putting the work into one framework will lead to “efficiencies in time and cost”, Network Rail said, and allow the contractors and Network Rail to “work much more collaboratively across a longer-term pipeline of work”.Network Rail added that the single framework will also “enable suppliers to better manage their own resources and supply chain, and help them deliver the right project solutions working closely with Network Rail”.AmcoGiffen scooped both the electrification and plant role in Wales and the West of England, and the structures contract in Wales and the Borders. Octavius’s contract will cover ongoing maintenance and renewal of station canopies, depots, platforms, car parks and subways.Stuart Calvert, capital delivery director for Network Rail’s Wales and Western region, said the framework structure was similar to that used on jobs such as the Dartmoor line to Okehampton, where it reduced time and cost.“It’s very important that we select excellent suppliers and work collaboratively to get the same sort of benefits which will ultimately support better service for our passengers and freight customers,” Calvert said.The announcement means Bam Nuttall and Morgan Sindall will retain their places on the framework after they were named on the previous edition, known as the CP6 construction framework.However, Kier is set to miss out this time.