IRELAND: Iarnród Éireann announced on August 3 that four consortia had submitted responses for the prequalification phase of the DART Underground public-private partnership project. The deadline was July 20.

The consortia are:

• BBI: comprising Balfour Beatty Capital Ltd, BAM PPP Investments Ireland bv and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras SA;
• City Connect: comprising Macquarie Capital Group Ltd, Cintra Infraestructuras SA and Global Via Infraestructuras SA;
• NascRail: OHL Concesiones SL, Soares da Costa Concessoes SGPS SA, Allied Irish Banks plc, Bombardier Transportation (Holdings) UK Ltd and Pierse Contracting;
• Toto: Toto Construzioni Generali SpA, Societa Italiana per Condotte d’Acqua SpA, Ansaldo STS SpA, Condotte Immobiliare SpA, Torrena Scavi SpA and Rocksoil SpA.
  

IÉ will now assess the submissions. The PPP contract to design, build, finance, commission and maintain a 7·6 km twin bore tunnel connecting the Northern and Kildare rail lines, with six stations and associated facilities would last for 25 to 35 years including design and construction. Award is due by mid-2012, with the start of DART passenger services through the tunnel envisaged by the end of 2018.