Parsons Brinckerhoff secures second major contract on UK rail project

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Parsons Brinckerhoff, the global engineering consultancy, has secured its second major award – the key Consultancy Services contract – on a project that aims to transform rail travel in the north of England, delivering a potential 40% increase in services for 44 million more passengers per year and accommodate forecast rail growth through to 2030.

Last week, the company announced it had also won the lead Engineering Services contract for the project.

If funded in full, Network Rail’s ambitious ‘Northern Hub’ programme will deliver the capability for faster, more frequent services to better link the towns and cities of the North including Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

It will also introduce the capability for a new trans-Pennine service between Leeds and Manchester, provide new direct links to Manchester Airport through Manchester city centre and increase freight capacity across the region.

Network Rail has submitted plans to government for funding for the Northern Hub, and expects a decision by July 2012.

The only part that is funded is the Ordsall Chord, a new link between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria stations which eases the bottleneck around Manchester Piccadilly and unlocks capacity.

Parsons Brinckerhoff’s role under the Consultancy Services (CS) contract will be to provide a variety of programme management services to help Network Rail deliver the multiple infrastructure and operational projects that constitute the overall Northern Hub scheme.

Key services to be provided by the company include Development Management, Consents Management and Stakeholder Consultation, Systems Integration and Project Engineering.

Welcoming the contract, Darren Reed, Parsons Brinckerhoff’s UK Director of Rail, said:

“We see the Northern Hub project as providing a legacy for future generations. It is clearly one of the most exciting projects in the UK today and we are fully committed to working with Network Rail to ensure success of the programme.

“We have extensive experience of delivering complex and challenging projects in collaboration with Network Rail and have played a key role over the last two years in the team delivering Systems Integration on London’s complex Thameslink project, which was specifically highlighted in the recent McNulty Report as industry best practice.”

Northern Hub includes significant improvements to rail infrastructure within the Manchester area and on lines feeding the city from the north, west and east. Multiple projects will help improve capacity and reduce journey times.

The critical point for the overall project is the area around Castleford and its connections with Manchester’s Victoria and Piccadilly stations.

The creation of a new line – the Ordsall Chord – will provide the link between Victoria in the north of the city and the Castleford Corridor, which services Piccadilly in the south.

This link will allow increased services between Leeds and Manchester Airport whilst removing the existing bottleneck at Piccadilly.

Other major projects in Manchester to improve flow through the area include new platform infrastructure at Victoria and Piccadilly stations and extended platforms at Manchester Oxford Road station.

Parsons Brinckerhoff will work as part of a fully integrated, co-located team with Network Rail and various other engineering contractors on the project.

The company will also work closely with other stakeholders, including the Department for Transport, train operating companies, Transport for Greater Manchester, various local authorities, council and boroughs, the general public, and other major projects in the region including long-term electrification programmes and the team developing High Speed 2.

Network Rail is currently undertaking pre-application consultation on the Ordsall Chord.

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