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London & Continental Railways Limited
3rd Floor
183 Eversholt Street
GB - London NW1 1AY
Contact : Mr. Mark Bayley, Group Treasurer
The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) is a high speed railway line between the Channel Tunnel and London. It forms part of the PBKAL network, which comprises high speed railway lines linking Paris-Brussels-Köln-Amsterdam-London. Section 1 (between the Channel Tunnel and Fawkham Junction in Kent) is expected to open in the 4th quarter of 2003. Section 2, the subject of the current project, comprises construction of the remaining route between Fawkham Junction and St. Pancras station in London. Construction of Section 2 began in July 2001, and progress is satisfactory with tunnel boring and other major civil works well under way. Completion is scheduled for early 2007.
CTRL will reduce journey times between London and Paris/Brussels by around 30 minutes compared to today, improving the competitiveness of rail relative to air and road transport and forming an integral part of the European high-speed passenger rail network. CTRL will also provide substantial capacity for high speed domestic services between London and Kent, and will release capacity on existing lines for freight and regional passenger services. The new section will contribute to urban regeneration in the East London and East Thames areas through a large scale redevelopment of redundant rail lands centred on the new station at Stratford and around St. Pancras. The construction cost of the current redevelopment plans are similar in magnitude to the GBP 5.2 billion target cost of the entire CTRL project (Sections 1 and 2).
The project falls within the scope of Annex I of Directive 97/11. However the Directive allows exemption from the formal procedures if the project details are adopted by a specific act of national legislation. This is the case for this project where the CTRL Hybrid Bill has completed the parliamentary procedures, which included extensive public consultations as part of the Select Committee process.
The promoter follows the procedures required by the EU Directive and has advertised all contracts in the Official Journal of the EU.