A shortlist of BMV (Balfour Beatty, Morgan Est and Vinci joint venture), Carillion, Morrison Construction and Roadbridge/Sisk has been selected to bid for the construction of the 'St James Spur' - the main branch line viaduct stretching across the M8 to the new airport station.

The contract - expected to be worth between £90 million and £130 million - represents the most significant single element in the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) project.

The tender competition will now begin in spring 2009, the work to build the viaduct over the M8 at Paisley begins in 2010, with GARL scheduled to be operational in early 2013 in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

During peak times four trains will run every hour between the city and the airport. Each journey will take 16 minutes with just one stop, at Paisley Gilmour Street.

"I am delighted by the great progress already being made on GARL, which will be delivered well in advance of the Commonwealth Games in 2014 to help Scotland capture the long term economic growth the Games will bring,” said Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson

"I am particularly pleased that seven major construction companies, either individually or in a consortium, are lining up to bid for this flagship public transport project in the West of Scotland”, added he.

Following the Office of Rail Regulation's recent Final Determination of Network Rail's costs for the period 2009-2014, the current estimated outturn cost range for the combined GARL-PCR project is £365.5m to £395m excluding VAT.

This figure cannot be compared to the original cost range for GARL as the project is now combined with a significant Network Rail signal renewal scheme (PCR) as outlined to Parliament by the Transport Minister on June 27, 2007.

'Network Rail's resignalling of the Paisley Corridor, on track for delivery in December 2011, is a key enabler of the GARL project and we look forward to playing our role in delivering this major investment in Scotland's transport infrastructure," said Ron McAulay, Director Scotland Network Rail.

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