LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Balfour Beatty and Carillion have been awarded contracts as part of a £6.6bn allocation from the UK government as part of the controversial High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project from London to Birmingham.
Balfour Beatty said it had won two contracts worth £2.5bn, while Carillion said its joint venture partnership with Eiffage and Kier had also picked up two deals worth £1.3bn.

Balfour will operate its contracts through its joint venture with VINCI.

The overall cost of the project is already £56bn and is not expected to run its first trains until 2026. Critics say the line will damage the environment with negligible time savings for travellers.

The contracts have been awarded as follows:

Area South

Euston tunnels and approaches - SCS joint venture: Costain (UK), Skanska Construction UK (Sweden) and STRABAG (Austria)
Northolt tunnels - SCS JV


Area Central

Chiltern tunnels and Colne Valley Viaduct - Align joint venture: Sir Robert McAlpine (UK), Bouygues Travaux Publics (France) and VolkerFitzpatrick (UK)
North Portal Chiltern tunnels to Brackley - CEK joint venture: Carillion Construction Ltd (UK), Eiffage Genie Civil SA (France), Kier Infrastructure and Overseas (UK)
Brackley to south portal of Long Itchington Wood Green tunnel - CEK JV

Area North

Long Itchington Wood Green Tunnel to Delta Junction and Birmingham Spur - BBV joint venture: Balfour Beatty Group (UK), VINCI Construction Grands Projets (France), VINCI Construction UK Ltd and VINCI Construction Terrassement
Delta Junction to West Coast Main Line Tie-In - BBV JV

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