Train delays 'could derail Thameslink upgrade'

4 Jun 13
Delays in buying trains risk holding up the upgrade of the Thameslink rail route through London, the National Audit Office has warned.

Examining progress on the programme to improve stations and increase the number of trains able to use the route each day, auditors found that the first stage of the infrastructure upgrade was completed on time and under budget.

However, Progress in the Thameslink programme warned that delays in agreeing to buy new trains to run on the route could ‘delay significantly’ or ‘complicate delivery’ of the £6bn scheme.

In July 2011, the Department for Transport awarded a £1.6bn contract to Siemens to build 1,200 carriages for the improved cross-London route between Bedford and Brighton. The German firm was confirmed as preferred bidder ahead of Bombardier, based in Derby, which then announced 1,400 jobs would go as a result.

Following this, ministers have yet to confirm the final deal. Today’s report warned that this meant it was unclear ‘whether delivery of the whole programme by 2018 is still feasible’.

The trains will be built under a Private Finance Initiative contract, and the NAO said the delay raised questions about whether the department had ‘underestimated the scale of the work, time and skills and resources’ needed.

The first stage of the programme’s track upgrade was completed on time and cost £1.704bn, based on 2006 prices, £143m less than expected, the report found. This involved a revamp of a number of stations along the route to allow them to accommodate 12-car trains.

The second phase of the scheme will make a number of infrastructure improvements across the route to allow 24 trains an hour to run through central London.

Auditors said that there ‘continues to be a robust transport case’ for the scheme, as Thameslink services are consistently among the most crowded London routes.

However, with the contract for trains still to be signed off, the DfT needed to ‘ensure it has the necessary capacity and skills to keep it on course alongside other rail projects it manages, such as Crossrail and High Speed 2’.

The delay meant ‘that delivering value for money from the programme as a whole is at greater risk than the National Audit Office would have expected at this stage’, the report concluded.

Auditor general Amyas Morse said it’s ‘too early in the Thameslink programme to conclude on whether or not it will achieve value for money’.

He added: ‘However, there has been good progress in delivering the first stage of the infrastructure part of the programme on time and under budget, which the department now needs to build on.

‘Our principal concern is around the delay in agreeing the contract to build new trains, which raises questions about the feasibility of delivering the whole programme by 2018.’




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