Crossrail has announced its intention to award the major tunnel contracts for Europe's largest infrastructure project.

These are the most significant tunnel contracts to be awarded in the UK since the Jubilee Line Extension and Channel Tunnel Rail Link and will provide a much-needed boost to UK construction as well as creating major employment opportunities.

The contracts, worth in the region of £1.25 billion, will deliver the construction of 18km of twin-bore tunnels underneath central London. Nearly 21km of twin-bore tunnel will be constructed for Crossrail. Tunnelling activity will commence in late 2011 with the first tunnel boring machine (TBM) starting out on its journey in spring 2012.

The contracts being awarded today are the first of nearly thirty major contracts that will be awarded by Crossrail over the next eighteen months. A further series of tunnelling contracts will be awarded in 2011 including the Thames Tunnel between Plumstead and Woolwich and remaining contracts for tunnel portals and station platform tunnels.

Crossrail will boost London’s rail capacity by ten per cent, delivering new journey opportunities, faster journey times and up to 24 trains per hour between Paddington and Whitechapel during the peak.

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The four contract awards are as follows:

C300 – Western Running Tunnels (Royal Oak to Farringdon)

Joint venture comprising: BAM Nuttall Ltd, Ferrovial Agroman (UK) Ltd, Kier Construction Ltd.

C305 – Eastern Running Tunnels (Limmo Peninsula to Farringdon; Limmo Peninsula to Victoria Dock; Stepney Green to Pudding Mill Lane)

Joint venture comprising: Dragados S.A., John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd.

C410 – Early Access Shafts and Sprayed Concrete Lining Works for Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road stations tunnels

Joint venture comprising: BAM Nuttall Ltd, Ferrovial Agroman (UK) Ltd, Kier Construction Ltd.

C510 – Early Access Shafts and Sprayed Concrete Lining Works for Whitechapel and Liverpool Street stations tunnels

Joint venture comprising: Alpine BeMo Tunnelling GmbH, Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd, Morgan Sindall (Infrastructure) plc, VINCI Construction Grands Projects.

Rob Holden, Crossrail Chief Executive said: "Crossrail has now reached a very significant milestone with the award of the main tunnel contracts. The value of the contracts, combined with the length of tunnel to be constructed, is on a scale not seen in the UK since the Jubilee Line Extension or the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Tunnelling activity will get underway in late 2011.

"Significant competition in the construction industry for Crossrail work has delivered highly competitive bids. Over £1bn in savings to Crossrail’s construction costs have been identified to-date in part due to a more efficient construction timetable and these contract awards will help secure these savings. Crossrail will award a further series of tunnel construction contracts in 2011 including the new Thames Tunnel between North Woolwich and Plumstead.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the companies and consortia who participated in these tunnel bids. They each committed a huge amount of resource and we look forward to working with the winners to further develop their ideas with ours to deliver Crossrail in the most efficient and cost-effective way."

(CD)