Thameslink Bidding Extended As Funding Proves Scarce

摘要

Following requests from a number of bidders, on March 19 DfT Rail extended the deadline to submit offers to supply the new Thames-link EMU fleet by eight weeks from April 30 to June 25. Bidders had been continuing to experience difficulty in restructuring funding packages for the project, costing over ￡2bn, following DfT Rail's proposal to 'slice' train deliveries.rnOn February 16 DfT Rail had issued a Thameslink financing update paper. This proposed two potential approaches to making funding easier to raise.rnIn line with the similar proposal for the Intercity Express Programme made in December 2008, DfT Rail suggested that the Thameslink project could be sliced into two separately-funded tranches. The first would cover an initial tranche of 432 vehicles plus the two main depots, training simulators and mock-ups. A second tranche would see the remainder of the fleet delivered by December 2015.