Just as a little addition to my previous blog entry, the arbiter pretty much confirmed what I had expected, which is that he found pretty much in favour of Transport for London in his determination on the second period of the PPP. That was all very much as expected, but the response from Tube Lines was quite extraordinary. In a press release, the company has basically said that the money is not sufficient to carry out the work in the private sector and that London Underground was a difficult client which was hard to work with.
Essentially I take the statement to mean that Tube Lines is preparing to walk away from the contract. However, there are now suggestions that the company is going to try to get a judicial review of the arbiter’s decision – though the grounds seem shaky to say the least.
What is clear is that TfL must be desperate to get rid of Tube Lines now. Who would want to work with a stroppy contractor who is going to take them to court at every eventuality. See my next Rail column for more thoughts on this.