A shortlist of bidders vying to deliver a key part of the new HS2 infrastructure has been unveiled.
Two companies have gone through to the final stage of a tender worth up to £269 million to supply, operate and maintain the cable system required for a new automated people mover serving the HS2 Interchange station in Solihull.
They are Doppelmayr Cable Car 海角视频 which is a subsidiary of Austrian group Doppelmayr and whose previous projects include a similar people mover at Luton Airport and the London Cable Car connecting Royal Victoria Dock and Greenwich Peninsula.
Also shortlisted is French group Poma which previously worked on the i360 observation tower on Brighton's seafront and the London Eye big wheel attraction.
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This new procurement is for the award of two separate contracts to a single supplier for the design, supply, integration, installation, testing and commissioning of the people mover system up to its delivery into service.
Secondly, it covers the operation of the system and the wider asset management for a term of up to 25 years.
Interchange, which will sit on land east of the M42, is one of four new HS2 stations being built for the high-speed rail project between Birmingham and London.
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The automated people mover will be around 1.4 miles in length and connect Interchange with the NEC campus, Birmingham International station and the airport.
Services will leave every three minutes, with the journeys between Interchange and the airport expected to take six minutes, and the cars will be capable of carrying 2,100 passengers per hour in each direction.
It will be built on a viaduct to cross over the motorway and railway line, reaching around 45 feet at its highest point.
Andrew Cubitt, HS2's procurement and supply chain director, said: "We're delighted to announce the shortlisted bidders which takes us a step closer to delivering this vital connectivity boost to the HS2 network.
"This clean, green, transport solution will prove invaluable to the millions of people that will use it for onward business and leisure travel or to access the excellent variety of events and entertainment on offer at the NEC and Resorts World."
A separate tender process is due to be launched later this year for a civil works contractor to build the actual infrastructure for the people mover including the viaducts it will sit upon, the four stops and a maintenance facility building.