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Northern Trains Limited

Class 331 Heavy Maintenance infrastructure upgrade Allerton TCC

ConstructionCPV 45000000
Value£2.1m
Deadline5 Oct 2026
Published3 Sept 2026
RegionNationwide
Timeline
Published 3 Sept 202630 days leftCloses 5 Oct 2026
Who to contact
Holly Longcroft
Holly.Longcroft@northernrailway.co.uk

The procurement contact named on the official notice.

How to submit
Open the submissions portal

The submission route named on the official notice.

Contract value in context
£2.1mtotal contract value
median £158k
this tender£0£6.5m

This is a large award for Construction — above three-quarters of comparable contracts. Based on 64,002 valued Construction tenders in our corpus.

When this comes round again

Northern Trains Limited publishes Construction work continuously — 40 notices, roughly one every 24 days. This is a stream to watch, not a cycle to wait for.

56% of Northern Trains Limited’s awards go to a supplier it has used before.

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The brief

Scope of Works: The supplier shall provide facilities capable of supporting the Heavy Maintenance re-quirements of the Class 331 fleet.

The Class 331 Heavy Maintenance programme needs to start no later than 1st March 2028 to ensure that the Heavy Maintenance activities can be undertaken within the required maintenance schedule of the fleet and ensure it does not have a detrimental impact on customer rail services. - All design, construction, EIS, handover and training is required to have been completed in advance of the 1st March 2028.

A high level programme is to be generated by the contractor as part of the tender process A key part of this programme is the replacement of bogies across the fleet, which needs to happen in an efficient way to maintain programme.

4-road at Allerton has been iden-tified as the location where this work will take place.

To undertake bogie change re-placement on 4-road, the following items will need to be installed/addressed: · Installation of a vehicle jacking system capable of lifting 3 x class 331 vehicles in a synchronized manner without the need for splitting/decoupling the units.

The system shall also be capable of jacking single and two car units. · To facilitate the vehicle jacking system, there will be a need for the supplier to ensure that the floor is capable to safely withstand the expected loads when jacking a Class 331, and that the floor is suitably level and flat for the jacks.

Sur-veys will be required in order to validate this. · The supplier shall ensure that the jacks are interlocked with the Depot Protec-tion system so that no rail vehicle movements can take place unless jacks are in the stowed/birthed position. · The design shall ensure that there is adequate clearance for personnel to safely walk around the jacks in both operational and stowed positions.

The preference is for the jacks to be mounted on rails and be compact to maximise clearance around the jacks. · Road 4 pits and floorings shall painted. · Circa 30m x 1.5m along road 4 has a side pitted area.

As part of this work there would be a need to bring the height of these side pits to be level with the adja-cent flooring in order to accommodate the jacks and facilitate easy removal of jacks if required.

This area should be reinforced throughout to enable jacking of any class of vehicle.

As per design development a barrier should be considered between road 4 and 5 along this section to prevent the risk of falling from height from road 4 into the side pit of road 5, this cannot be of detriment to operations on adjacent road. · There is currently roof access equipment and a crane situated along road 4.

NTL would like to retain this equipment.

The expected positions of the jacks on road 4 have been marked out and it is not expected that the jacks would foul with these items of equipment.

However, there will be a need for the supplier to vali-date that during lifting operations that the train is adequately clear of the roof ac-cess equipment.

The supplier should make provision for modifications to the roof access equipment to ensure adequate clearance is achieved. · Once vehicles are lifted, the bogies would be rolled by hand along the rail to ei-ther end of the shed where a forklift will be used to lift the bogies and transfer to a storage location.

There will be a need for the supplier to design and build a level concrete hardstanding to be extended on both ends of the shed in order to support the safe lifting of bogies by a forklift and the transfer of components from the hardstanding on road 4 to an identified storage location. · Storage for a minimum of 12 bogies in total, to be segregated into “clean” and “dirty” bogie storage.

The ability to store 16 bogies in total should be explored within the designated area, to provide potential future capability.

The identified location for storing the bogies is shown in the image below. · A battery forklift truck is proposed to be used.

The supplier is required to work with NTL to identify a suitable fork lift truck.

The supplier shall design and build a covered storage area for the Fork Lift Truck, with battery charging facilities. · A swept path analysis shall be undertaken for Fork Lift truck operations from the pick up position at the rail, to the storage location of bogies.

The supplier shall check that there is adequate clearance and that floor loadings are acceptable throughout, inclusive of any RRAPs, manhole covers, general road surfacing. · The supplier shall undertake a Hazid review of the Fork Lift truck movement around site with the movement of components to ensure that any hazards are identified and mitigated where required.

The solution delivered shall: · Support the HM331 maintenance strategy. · Support bogie change activities. · Support vehicle lifting and jacking operations. · Support heavy component replacement activities. · Maintain depot operational functionality during construction wherever reasona-bly practicable. · Comply with all relevant statutory and railway standards. · Provide a safe working environment. · Minimise future maintenance liabilities. · Facilitate efficient maintenance operations. · Be demonstrably operable, maintainable and safe. · Allow future flexibility where reasonably practicable.

Where used throughout this notice, the meaning of Train Operating Companies includes all and any of those train operating companies who, currently or in the future, provide services for the carriage of passengers by railway: under a franchise agreement with the Secretary of State within the meaning of section 23(3) of the Railways Act 1993 or under, or secured under, the Secretary of State's duty in section 30(1) of the Railways Act 1993; or in accordance with legislation which supersedes or amends the powers referred to in a) and b), including where such powers are transferred from the Secretary of State to another body.

The list of current providers of services for the carriage of passengers by railway under these provisions can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-register-of-rail-passenger-contracts.

Novation or Assignment The contract may be novated or assigned by Northern Trains Ltd to Train Operating Companies, or to DFT Operator Limited (company number: 07141122) or any successor parent company to a Train Operating Company, following a corporate restructuring or similar circumstance.

Other Information Northern Trains Limited expressly reserves the right: not to award any suppliers the contract referred to in this notice; and in no circumstances will the customer be liable for any costs incurred by the suppliers.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta E-Sourcing Portal at: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/73F9G864AP To respond to this opportunity, please click here: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/73F9G864AP For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-York:-Designs./73F9G864AP To respond to this opportunity, please click here: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/73F9G864AP

Requirements

What the notice asks for

01

The supplier shall provide facilities capable

The supplier shall provide facilities capable of supporting the Heavy Maintenance re-quirements of the Class 331 fleet.

02

The Class 331 Heavy Maintenance programme needs

The Class 331 Heavy Maintenance programme needs to start no later than 1st March 2028 to ensure that the Heavy Maintenance activities can be undertaken within the required maintenance schedule of the fleet and ensure it does not have a detrimental impact on customer rail services.

03

All design, construction, EIS, handover and training

All design, construction, EIS, handover and training is required to have been completed in advance of the 1st March 2028.

04

A key part of this programme is

A key part of this programme is the replacement of bogies across the fleet, which needs to happen in an efficient way to maintain programme.

05

To undertake bogie change re-placement on 4-road

To undertake bogie change re-placement on 4-road, the following items will need to be installed/addressed:.

Sentences from the notice that state an obligation, surfaced automatically and shown in the order they appear. Not an exhaustive list — always confirm against the tender documents.

What it takes to bid this

2540 daysof bid-team effort
£17.1k£27.4kat typical UK bid-team rates

Typical UK bid effort for the £1m–£10m band — an estimate, not a quote.

Qualify & bid/no-bid ~10% · SQ / PQQ ~20% · Written response ~55% · Review & presentation ~15%

Typical for this category — confirm against the ITT pack

  • Hold at bidSSIP-family accreditation (CHAS / Constructionline)
  • Hold at bidISO 45001 / H&S policy & CDM competence
  • Show at bidNamed site & contract managers with CVs
  • Show at bidComparable references / case studies
  • Hold at bidFinancial standing (accounts, often ~2× contract value turnover)
  • Hold at bidInsurance cover (PL / EL, often PI)
  • Show at bidSocial value commitments

Hold at bid = pass/fail conditions of participation. Show at bid = scored in the quality response. Plan for delivery = contract obligations from day one.

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Source & provenance
OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f195
Stage
tender · Open
Source
Find a Tender
Buyer ref
083595-2026
View the original notice on Find a Tender

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source data © Crown copyright.

Market context

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