Dart prequalified consortia named

Iarnród Éireann, the Irish rail operator, announced yesterday four consortia in the pre-qualification phase of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) procurement process for Dublin’s DART Underground.

The four are: BBI Consortium (Balfour Beatty Capital Ltd, BAM PPP Investments Ireland bv, Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras, S.A.), City Connect Consortium (Macquarie Capital Group Ltd, Cintra Infraestructuras, S.A., Global Via Infraestructuras, S.A.), NascRail Consortium (OHL Concesiones S.L., Soares da Costa Concessoes SGPS, SA, Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c., Bombardier Transportation (Holdings) UK Ltd, Pierse Contracting) and Toto Consortium (Toto Costruzioni Generali S.p.A., Societa Italiana per Condotte d’Acqua S.p.A, Ansaldo STS S.p.A., Condotte Immobiliare S.p.A., Torrena Scavi S.p.A., Rocksoil S.p.A.).

Iarnród Éireann will now start the assessment process, which will be completed over the coming months. The project intends to have the contract awarded by mid 2012 and construction completed before the end of 2018.

Under the PPP contract the private partner will be responsible for the design, construction, financing, commissioning and maintenance of the tunnel, stations and associated facilities over the period of the PPP contract. In return, the private partner will receive an annual availability and performance based payment. According to Iarnród Éireann, at this stage, the contract is envisaged to last for 25 to 35 years.

DART Underground will run through an approximately 7.6km tunnel that will connect the Northern and Kildare rail lines in Dublin. The twin tunnels will be constructed using two Tunnel Boring Machines, launching from the Docklands, at an average depth of 24m below ground level. Underground stations will be built at Spencer Dock, Pearse, St. Stephen’s Green, Christchurch and Heuston, and there will be a new surface station at Inchicore.

For the first time all the rail systems—DART, Commuter, Intercity, Luas and Metro—will link together into an integrated and cohesive network.