French engineering consultant Ingerop Conseil et Ingénierie has been brought in to drive down the cost of Coventry’s very light rail scheme. A contract notice on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) reveals that Ingerop Conseil et Ingénierie beat three other bidders to the job that involves designing new trackform for Coventry’s planned light rail scheme.
In September last year, Coventry City Council revealed a target cot of £10M per km of track, much less than traditional light rail systems that cost between £35M/km and £60M/km.
The scope of Ingerop Conseil et Ingénierie’s work, as detailed on the OJEU notice, includes: “the delivery of detailed, tested and verified design specification for an innovative trackform, which needs to deliver a significant step-change reduction in light-rail installation costs”. It adds: “The objective is to identify novel structures that will enable the aggressive cost target per route kilometre to be achieved.
So is Coventry trying to build a copy of the Morgantown people mover?
Description in article passes the “Duck Test” for me…