Chunnel Rail Link Engg Work Begins

Preparatory engineering work has begun on Britain's Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), developer London & Continental Railways (LCR) said on Sunday.

Five major tunnelling contracts worth 800 million pounds ($1.3 billion) for the 108 km high speed railway between London and the Channel Tunnel have also been put out to tender, the company said in a statement.

Union Railways, the division of LCR responsible for managing the CRTL project, has begun cabling work on the planned route near Gravesend, Kent, in Southeast England, London & Continental Railways said.

The company said it had already received the first bid for the single largest tunnelling project, worth 300 million pounds.

"It is anticipated that the first contractor for the main tunnelling work will be announced by late summer 1997," LCR said.

LCR won the contract in February 1996 under the British government's Private Finance Initiative to build and operate the CTRL project and to own and operate Eurostar (UK), the British arm of the international high speed passenger train service to Paris and Brussels.