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[Latest] November 2004
24 October 2001:
Following the approval of powers and funding for the SHRT scheme, Fareham - Gosport - Portsmouth. Steve Nicholson has been appointed as project director to take the scheme through procurement and up to construction. The project office has now moved to Mountbatten Gallery, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2BY Tel: 02392 841764.
It is expected that a request for expressions of interest will be issued in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC) before the end of the year with a short list of bidders selected in May 2002. Construction should start in 2003 with trams running by early 2007.
11 September 2002
New Partners Join SMART To Bid For South Hampshire Tram Scheme
The three consortia that originally prequalified were:
a. Harbour Light Rail comprising ALSTOM, Carillion, Nuttal and TRANSDEV
b. South Hampshire Supertram Ltd made up of Bouygues, Mowlem, Siemens and Stagecoach
c. SMART combined Mitsubishi, Obayashi, AMEC and Serco.
Subsequently, AMEC, and its associated companies (AMEC, Spie Rail Systems and AMEC Rail), withdrew from the SMART consortium. SMART was given the opportunity to find a replacement and chose Vinci Grands Projets and their UK subsidiary, Norwest Holst. The consortium was then required to re-submit its pre-qualification information for reassessment. The promoters of the South Hampshire Rapid Transit scheme (SHRT-1) have now completed this pre-qualification exercise to assess the two new partners joining the SMART consortium in its bid for the SHRT-1 concession.
25 November 2003
Another new partner for SMART
The Hong Kong based MTR Corporation has joined the SMART consortium in bidding for the SHRT1 contract. The MTR Corporation is a world leader in delivering and operating mass transit railway systems and this development is seen as strengthening the case for getting approval from the government for the project to proceed.
The Government first approved the scheme, aimed at taking three million car journeys off local roads, more than two years ago. Since then the cost estimates have increased due to a number of factors outside the local authorities' control. These included greater insurance premiums, high construction inflation, an increase in public utility diversion work and the fact that the tunnel under Portsmouth harbour has to be deeper to accommodate the Royal Navy's new ships. As a result Transport Secretary Alistair Darling asked the promoters to examine how the costs could be reduced and to submit a revised proposal and that proposal is now with Ministers awaiting a decision. This is still the case despite rumours that the proposals had been turned down.
Rejection:
In early July, Alistair Darling announced as part of the Government’s 10-Year Transport Plan that the South Hants Supertram was unaffordable at the current increased cost.
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Revised tram scheme submitted to Government:
A revised bid for the South Hampshire Rapid Transit (SHRT1) tram scheme linking Fareham town centre, Gosport and Portsmouth city centre was submitted to Government on 24th November.
The promoters - Hampshire County Council and Portsmouth City Council - have been working for months to rework the bid to better meet funding concerns put forward by the Department for Transport when it refused to fund the scheme in July.
The scheme will enable people to travel seamlessly between Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth, switching to heavy rail or bus at either end as necessary. However, in order to reduce overall costs, the promoters have reviewed the scope of the scheme so that there are options for Government to consider a phased approach. At the north end of the route, the proposed loop between Fareham train station and the main bus station was forecast to benefit the least number of tram passengers. The relatively low level of expected users and the opportunity for adopting an improved shuttle service between the bus and train stations means that the Fareham loop would be the most likely element deferred.
Risk has also been realigned between the public and private sectors to bring Government's contribution down to GBP170 million.
Further information can be found on the South Hants Supertram website
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