Transport for London01/06/2005
DLR Signs Contract For Extension To Woolwich Arsenal
Docklands Light Railway Ltd (DLRL), part of Transport for London (TfL), has today finalised the contract with the appointed concessionaire for the construction of the Extension to Woolwich Arsenal. The project forms part of TfL's five-year investment programme through a 30 year concession contract with Woolwich Arsenal Rail Enterprises (WARE), a consortium formed by AMEC and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
At a capital cost of £180m, the 2.5km extension will run from King George V station in North Woolwich (now being constructed under a separate concession arrangement as part of the London City Airport extension) under the Thames, through two parallel bored tunnels, to Woolwich Arsenal.
There will be a new partly sub-surface DLR station adjacent to the Network Rail station with two entrances - one directly into the town centre. The Extension will provide an important interchange with suburban rail and other local transport modes, and is expected to be operating in early 2009.
Jonathan Fox, Director of DLRL, said: "This is great news for people living south of the Thames - another new DLR route to provide fast and frequent travel to Canary Wharf, the City, east London and London City Airport.
"We are pleased to have been working in partnership with Greenwich Council for some years, firstly on the route through Greenwich to Lewisham and now on this new extension. DLRL looks forward to playing a significant role in the regeneration of Woolwich town centre and continuing its excellent relationship with the Borough."
The Leader of Greenwich Council, Councillor Chris Roberts is pleased that the project can now get started, "DLR coming to Woolwich is great news for the Borough. It will open up many new job opportunities for local people, encourage new businesses to set up a base in the Borough and make Woolwich an even more attractive place in which to live and work and to visit.
"In recent years new transport links such as the Jubilee Line extension and previous DLR investments in Greenwich and Cutty Sark stations have provided an important boost to the ongoing regeneration of the Borough. This new investment will play a major role in its future and will be welcomed by all."
The concessionaire, WARE, will be responsible for designing, financing, constructing and maintaining the Extension and DLR will make payments to WARE for every day that the Extension is available for DLR to operate train services. WARE was selected in December 2004 as the preferred bidder following a competition between four consortia.
Notes to Editors:
WARE will be raising £240 million of debt and equity finance to fund the project which includes a £100m loan from the European Investment Bank.
Docklands Light Railway carries over 50m passengers a year and this is expected to increase to 80 million by 2009. To meet this growing ridership and further expansion of the network, DLR has ordered 24 new vehicles which will be in service from Autumn 2007.
Test trains will soon be running on the 4.4km extension from Canning Town to London City Airport and King George V at North Woolwich which is due to open before the end of this year.
The TfL Board has agreed that DLR should submit an Application under the Transport and Works Act for Government approval to convert part of the North London line and to extend this route to the CTRL International Station at Stratford. It is expected that the Application will be ready in July.
Following a Public Inquiry, DLR plans to significantly improve capacity by running three-car trains from 2009. Government approval for this major project is anticipated later this year.
