Merseyrail begins £10m investment programme

Merseyrail has started procurement for a £10m framework covering projects including new stations, station rebuilds and refurbishment works across its estate.

The tender process has now started on the three-year framework, which the rail company said would help to speed up procurement and construction on its projects.

It added it had been “costly” in the past to carry out individual tenders for each of its schemes.

Merseyrail’s network currently stretches 75 miles between Southport, Cheshire, Ellesmere Port, and the Wirral, and 36m passenger journeys per year.

The framework is set to include a wide range of projects, including defect repairs, refurbishments, structural repairs, and new-build stations.

These are split across three lots, covering minor works worth up to £100,000; works between £100,000 and £1m; and projects worth more than £1m. Merseyrail expects to invite six firms to tender, and there will be around 10 companies in total chosen for the framework.

There is also an option to extend the framework for two additional years once its initial three-year timescale completes.

The network has been hit by a number of strikes this year launched by trade union RMT over the introduction of new trains where the doors would be operated by the driver, rather than by a guard in the carriage.