Following the award of the major tunnelling contracts last month, Crossrail has started the tender process for a further four central London stations - Bond Street, Liverpool Street, Tottenham Court Road and Whitechapel.

A notice has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union inviting expressions of interest to construct these major new stations. The total combined value of these four main construction contracts is in the region of £975 million.

This now means that the tender process for all new Crossrail central London stations is underway. The procurement process for Farringdon and Paddington Crossrail stations commenced last year. The total value of the six central London Crossrail stations is £1.5 billion.

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Crossrail intends to award the main construction contracts for all central London stations by the end of 2011.

Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said: "As the first major procurement notice for 2011, this is a significant and welcome step towards the completion of a railway which will transform travel into London, putting 1.5 million more people within 45 minutes of London's business areas and supporting our economic recovery.

"The Government supports Crossrail as the project will support and enable growth not only in London but across the UK."

Crossrail also confirmed that it has now finalised the shortlist for C405 Paddington station. The following organisations have been invited to tender:

• Costain and Skanska
• Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and Vinci
• BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier Construction
• Laing O'Rourke and Strabag
• Carillion Construction Ltd

(CD/KMcA)