Costain and Skanska awarded UK contract

A joint venture between Costain and Skanska has been chosen to construct the Crossrail Paddington Station in London, UK.

The project, which is worth approximately £ 150 million (€ 170 million), is the first station contract to be awarded as part of the £14,8 billion (€ 16,8 billion) Crossrail programme.

A new railway link between Maidenhead to the west of London, and Abbey Wood and Shenfield to the east, Crossrail will boost London's rail-based capacity by 10%. It will aim to provide faster journey times and up to 24 trains per hour between Paddington in west London and Whitechapel in east London during peak periods.

The Crossrail Paddington Station is one of seven new underground stations to be constructed. It will be a key interchange with the existing Network Rail services at the Paddington Mainline station and with London Underground.

It has been designed to maximise the station's space while preserving the historic features of the main line station. The new station will take the form of a 260m long, 25m wide and 23m deep underground box. Construction in expected to start this year.

It will be a 50:50 joint venture between Costain, one of the UK's leading engineering solutions providers, and Skanska, the Swedish-based project development and construction group.