Metronet brings in Deloitte in tube row

The PPP Underground consortium, which includes Balfour Beatty and Atkins, is preparing its case to recover £750m of cost overruns as hopes of a negotiated settlement recede.

It is likely that the evidence will be submitted to an extraordinary review, which is expected to cost Metronet £5m and to take one year. This will decide which parties are to blame and how much they must pay.

A spokesperson for London Underground said it had been impossible to reach a negotiated settlement because Metronet had withheld information. “They have not been forthcoming,” he said.

He added that London Underground rejected claims by Metronet that it was not properly briefed about the full extent of work required. He said: “We don’t accept that. They came into this fully understanding the situation.”

Metronet says the likely overrun to 2010, the first break point in the contract, is £750m. It claims that this is mostly because the client widened the scope of the station upgrades.

A Metronet spokesperson said: “This is not a fixed-price contract. If the customer asks us to do more work, they must pay for it. The station upgrades were ill-defined at the beginning.”

The London Underground spokesperson highlighted the contrasting fortunes of Tube Lines, the PPP consortium responsible for the remaining one-third of the network. He said: “Tube Lines has shown it is possible to deliver upgrades and track renewal on time.”