The Finnish Transport Agency will implement the project alliance model for the renovation of the Lielahti–Kokemäki railway. Project alliancing means that the owner participant (the Finnish Transport Agency) and the service providers (planners and contractors) form a collaborating group, an alliance, with joint responsibility for the planning and implementation of the project.
The project alliance model is a method for cooperative implementation, in which the contractual structures are used to ensure that the common goals are reached. The parties share all risks and benefits in connection with the project and share information about the contract and related costs more actively and openly than in the usual implementation models. The economic model is based on open-book accounting, according to which contractors and planners are reimbursed all their actual costs and a contractual fee.
The project alliance model is now implemented for the first time in a public contract in Europe. The implementation model has been used successfully in hundreds of projects in Australia and New Zeeland.
By implementing the project alliance model, the Finnish Transport Agency aims at:
- improving the construction productivity;
- making the culture in the construction industry more open and based on mutual trust;
- producing a final product of higher quality while saving time and money;
- promoting innovation and know-how.
The Finnish Transport Agency's partner VR Track Ltd
The Finnish Transport Agency carries out the first European project alliance contract in collaboration with VR Track Ltd. The contract includes a project development phase and a conditional implementation phase. The project development phase comprises e.g. the planning, definition of work content, project schedule and the target cost estimate. At the end of the project development phase the Finnish Transport Agency will decide whether to proceed to the implementation phase.
The alliance, the Finnish Transport Agency and VR Track Ltd, will begin the renovation of the railway section Lielahti–Kokemäki next autumn. The construction will start next year and the estimated time of completion is 2015. The renova-tion of the approximately 90-kilometre railway section includes the following measures:
- rails and sleepers;
- ballast and frost protection;
- embankments, drums and bridges; and
- simultaneous improvements of electrical and safety equipment to meet the standards set for the renovation.
In addition there is a need for improvements of the railway section, the extent of which will become clear during the project development phase.
The cost estimate for the renovation work in the project is approx. 90–95 million euros, including the Finnish Transport Agency's track material procurements (20–30 million €).