Railway tunnel construction work

Tender description

Network Rail manages 693 Tunnels that are typically 150 years old. They are built through different geologies and require different but increasing levels of maintenance and renewal. As the growth of railway traffic continues, access for maintenance and renewal reduces. To counter this trend, Network Rail are looking for innovative ways to form new tunnels. Also, to enlarge or renew significant elements of existing tunnels. The key requirement is to achieve this with minimal blockades where all traffic movements through the tunnel are stopped. At present, new tunnels are formed using large plant such as tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and other renewals use track-mounted plant. All require a significant duration of time where the railway is closed. As the existing tunnel portfolio continues to degrade, these interventions are more probable, causing disruption to our passengers. The aspiration is to find new ways of renewing our tunnels to reduce this impact to our passengers. This RFI aims to inform Network Rail of the current market capability and any future development work which may need to be completed to current solutions as part of the deployment or before. Network Rail would like to understand technical and commercial information on innovative methods for low-disruption tunnel renewals available on the market. Further information on the requirements can be found at: https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=48639 A response template has been created including the information required when responding to this RFI. Should you wish to respond to this RFI please follow the below instructions: 1. Follow the link - https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html; 2. From the welcome screen, access the ‘View Current Opportunities’ link and select ‘#13668 - Low-disruption Tunnel Renewals’; 3. Click on the attachment– ‘Low-disruption Tunnel Renewals RFI Submission Template’; 4. Once completed please send your submission document via email as an attachment to briony.toogood@networkrail.co.uk with the email subject ‘Low-disruption Tunnel Renewals - RFI’. The response deadline for this RFI is 16.00 on Tuesday 14 April 2020. Any questions or clarifications in respect of this RFI should be addressed to briony.toogood@networkrail.co.uk.