TRANSPORT for London has awarded the first of three contacts covering construction of the 5 km extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Stratford International, which is scheduled to open in 2010.

The Skanska-GrantRail joint venture is expected to begin work immediately on the £39m contract, which covers construction of two new platforms for North London Line services at Stratford station, alignment work for the link from Stratford to Stratford International as well as the shell of the DLR interchange with Eurostar, which will also serve the 2012 Olympic Park.

Between Stratford and Canning Town the line will use the alignment of Network Rail's recently-closed North Woolwich branch. Trains will then dive under DLR's Beckton branch to join the line to London City Airport, which is currently being extended under the Thames to Woolwich Arsenal. The other two main contracts will cover the conversion of the heavy rail line and construction of the grade-separated junction at Canning Town.

• The opening of an extra station on the existing DLR branch from Poplar to Stratford is set for November 2007. The £7·5m station at Langdon Park, between Devons Road and All Saints, is to be built by Costain following completion of design work by Consarc.