Wigan to Bolton electrification officially given go ahead

[Grumpy Git]

Who do you think's likely to get the contract for the electrification work ?

Carillion...............

 

[zwk500]

Who do you think's likely to get the contract for the electrification work ?

Search Companies House for the friends and relatives of cabinet ministers....

 

[59CosG95]

Who do you think's likely to get the contract for the electrification work ?

Amey would be a likely principal contender, based on the fact that they have an established base in the NW already (for NWEP post-Carillion, and for TRU West).

 

[snowball]

Amey would be a likely principal contender, based on the fact that they have an established base in the NW already (for NWEP post-Carillion, and for TRU West).

Are Amey the successors to the one-time Leonard Fairclough of Adlington? (No relation to another former builder, Leonard Fairclough of Coronation Street.)

 

[zwk500]

Are Amey the successors to the one-time Leonard Fairclough of Adlington? (No relation to another former builder, Leonard Fairclough of Coronation Street.)

No. According to Wikipedia (yes, I know) Leonard Fairclough & Son of Adlington merged with William Press Group to form AMEC, later Amec Foster Wheeler, who are now themselves owned by the John Wood Group.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Search Companies House for the friends and relatives of cabinet ministers....

Many of the possible contractors are foreign-owned or influenced - SPL Powerlines who did the MML Corby electrification is largely Austrian-controlled.
Amey who did much of the GW work is Spanish-owned (Ferrovial - same group that owns Heathrow Airport).
The British company originally doing the NW work (Balfour Beatty) was booted off after a contractual dispute, but still has major contracts with Crossrail and HS2 Ltd.
BB was NR's appointed electrification contractor for the North West, well before they were controlled by DfT.
I doubt you'll find much to complain about with NR's procurement procedures.

 

[yorkie]

Just a gentle reminder this is a thread to discuss the electrification of Wigan to Bolton.

If anyone wishes to discuss anything else, please create a new thread or use an existing one, as appropriate.

Any speculative posts belong in Speculative Ideas forum please.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Sep 2021 ==

No. According to Wikipedia (yes, I know) Leonard Fairclough & Son of Adlington merged with William Press Group to form AMEC, later Amec Foster Wheeler, who are now themselves owned by the John Wood Group.

Wikipedia requires its authors to provide a source; if there is a source provided I recommend referring to the primary source. If there is no source provided this means the article isn't consistent with Wikipedia guidelines.

 

[Trainer2]

It was Carillion then Amey (same staff, different badge!)that did Euxton Junction to Manc Victoria electrification.
My mate was working for both.
Network Rail did there own over head line wires in house for half of it, it was the best part of the job!

He thinks Amey will get it and manage it using sub contractors. A nice 15% profit on the overall cost for their services!

Only other one who can win it is called Buckingham , never heard of them ?
He told me who he thinks won’t get it, Kelbray & Volker Rail.

Easy money for someone , and don’t worry about going over budget, they always find more and someone else to blame!

 

[snowball]

No. According to Wikipedia (yes, I know) Leonard Fairclough & Son of Adlington merged with William Press Group to form AMEC, later Amec Foster Wheeler, who are now themselves owned by the John Wood Group.

I was momentarily confused by the similarity of the names Amec and Amey.

I once read of a contract for which the tenderers were Amey, Amec and AMcA (Alfred McAlpine).

 

[507020]

Is the Dicconson lane branch the line that went from Dobb brow to black rod? If so it’s unlikely it will ever open again as the M61 cuts through it at the blackrod side. There is also a stretch that has been submerged for years, you can see it to the left when heading towards westhoughton after going over crow nest.

The Dicconson Lane branch was the one that included a station at Dicconson Lane. Originally it was vitally important to access Horwich Works. I don’t believe it is obstructed by the M61. I’ll be passing Crow Nest Junction in 5 minutes so I’ll have a look.

 

[Ianno87]

I don’t believe it is obstructed by the M61.

No it is not. The biggest obstruction is a hotel on the former route where it passes under the A6.

 

[Bald Rick]

I was momentarily confused by the similarity of the names Amec and Amey.

I once read of a contract for which the tenderers were Amey, Amec and AMcA (Alfred McAlpine).

Didn’t AMCO bid too? (Amalgamated Construction)

 

[snowball]

Didn’t AMCO bid too? (Amalgamated Construction)

They could have used the corrugated steel specialist Armco as a subcontractor.

 

[DJH1971]

At long last, as they know it makes sense

 

[Ianno87]

Didn’t AMCO bid too? (Amalgamated Construction)

They could have used the corrugated steel specialist Armco as a subcontractor.

At least ACME and Wile-E-Coyote aren't involved too...

 

[edwin_m]

They could have used the corrugated steel specialist Armco as a subcontractor.

And used Aecom as designer?

 

[td97]

Who do you think's likely to get the contract for the electrification work ?

Volker and Buckingham were the contractors for GRIP 3 back in 2017.

 

[59CosG95]

Volker and Buckingham were the contractors for GRIP 3 back in 2017.

I'm guessing Volker for railway systems (OLE etc) and Buckingham for heavy civils (bridges etc)?

 

[Bevan Price]

There was actually a connection from the Warrington Central direction on to the WCML going north in the past.

Very basic connection via sidings, and unsuitable for passenger services.

 

[chorleyjeff]

Search Companies House for the friends and relatives of cabinet ministers....

Sounds plausible. Have you done such a search ? Can you share some info. ?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Only other one who can win it is called Buckingham , never heard of them ?
He told me who he thinks won’t get it, Kelbray & Volker Rail.
Easy money for someone , and don’t worry about going over budget, they always find more and someone else to blame!

Buckingham are a major NR civils contractor for new stations: Bromsgrove, Bicester Village etc, and I think they built Alstom's new maintenance base at Widnes.
They were also involved in the Todmorden curve reinstatement.
Balfour Beatty was relieved of the NW contract over overspending.

One rather surprising thing about electrification projects is the number of subcontractors used, and the two you mention keep turning up on schemes supposedly awarded to other firms.

 

[Elecman]

Volkers did a lot of Preston to Blackpool

 

[hwl]

Buckingham are a major NR civils contractor for new stations: Bromsgrove, Bicester Village etc, and I think they built Alstom's new maintenance base at Widnes.
They were also involved in the Todmorden curve reinstatement.
Balfour Beatty was relieved of the NW contract over overspending.

One rather surprising thing about electrification projects is the number of subcontractors used, and the two you mention keep turning up on schemes supposedly awarded to other firms.

Volkers stepped in after BB exited hence some were awarded twice (or thrice if Carillion was in there second!)

 

[Rail Ranger]

Just to clarify that Lostock Junction to Wigan Station Junction is only 6.5 miles (13 track miles).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Just to clarify that Lostock Junction to Wigan Station Junction is only 6.5 miles (13 track miles).

So 20 stkm (single track km), or £3.9m per stkm at the announced £78m cost.
Nowhere close to the NR target (around £1m per stkm).
There must be complications.

 

[59CosG95]

So 20 stkm (single track km), or £3.9m per stkm at the announced £78m cost.
Nowhere close to the NR target (around £1m per stkm).
There must be complications.

This does also include the platform extensions, bridge modifications and level crossing modifications. Perhaps there's an element of ancillary civils and E&P upgrades to go with this?

 

[The exile]

This does also include the platform extensions, bridge modifications and level crossing modifications. Perhaps there's an element of ancillary civils and E&P upgrades to go with this?

Presumably its relative shortness won’t help. Guessing that, all other factors being equal, a 20 stkm project will cost more per km than a 200 stkm one

 

[Efini92]

Is there many bridges that need alterations? Off the top of my head I can only think of two. The one at the station it’s self and the brand new one down near crow nest.

 

[Ianno87]

So 20 stkm (single track km), or £3.9m per stkm at the announced £78m cost.
Nowhere close to the NR target (around £1m per stkm).
There must be complications.

Presumably its relative shortness won’t help. Guessing that, all other factors being equal, a 20 stkm project will cost more per km than a 200 stkm one

Presumably for being so short, overheads (e.g. office costs) etc are disproportionately high.

 

[option]

Presumably for being so short, overheads (e.g. office costs) etc are disproportionately high.

Lots of fixed costs, eg. a piling rig might take a day to move to site & set up, that's got to be charged for. Doesn't matter if it's there for a weekend or a week, same cost for that bit.

Creating a compound costs the same whether you want it for a week or a month.