Morgan Sindall celebrates rail deal

Construction group Morgan Sindall is to help build a stretch of the Channel Tunnel rail link after winning a key contract today.

The company’s Eurolink joint venture with French firm Vinci has been awarded a £178m deal by Union Railways.

Under the contract, the two will construct bridges, viaducts and line supports for a 13km stretch of track between Dagenham and Thurrock in Essex.

The line will form part of the high-speed rail link that will carry passengers from St Pancras in London to Folkestone in four years’ time.

Morgan Sindall’s infrastructure arm Miller Civil Engineering Services would begin on-site construction work with Vinci next March.

The London-based group has already been involved in the first phase of works on the rail link, building a bridge over the Medway in Kent.

John Morgan, executive chairman, said: ‘‘This is a large contract for us.’’

All work on the 13km stretch, including three viaducts, 11 bridges and three highway diversions, should be finished by December 2004.

Shares in Morgan Sindall rose 8½p to 393½p.