Crossing under Thames to connect with City Airport promoted by London First. March 1999.   Docklands Light Railway estimates that its passenger volume in Docklands, east and south-east London will reach 60 million/year by 2004, by which time extensions to City Airport and North Woolwich will be in operation. Further extension of the railway to Woolwich Arsenal by 2006 will require a tunnel under the Thames. Visit www.londonunderground.co.uk August 2000.  Feasibility study for 2.5 km-long tunnelled cross-Thames extension from Beckton to Woolwich completed by W S Atkins. Construction start mid-2004 for completion in three years. Mowlem and Amec bidding for concession. Visit www.dlr.co.uk 44/01.Negotiated procedure, deadline 23rd January, 2004 for design, build, finance and maintenance contract of an extension of the Docklands Light Railway between King George V and Woolwich Arsenal including twin bored tunnels under the Thames. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=211530-2003, OJ S 237, or contact Docklands Light Railway Ltd, London, fax +44 2073639708. E-mail dkeep@dlr.co.uk 51/03.The Woolwich Arsenal Rail Enterprises (WARE), a 50/50 joint venture between Amec and the Royal Bank of Scotland, has been appointed preferred bidder for the GBP200 million extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Woolwich Arsenal. Under the terms of the contract, WARE will manage the design, build, finance and maintenance of the 2.5 km extension from King George V station under the Thames to Woolwich Arsenal station. This includes overseeing the twin bored tunnel excavation under the Thames and the construction of a new station integrated with the existing Woolwich Arsenal Network Rail station. Each of the twin tunnels will have a diameter of 5.2 m and a length of around 1.8 km. The remainder of the extension runs in cut and cover. The JV is expected to reach financial close on the PPP scheme in time for construction to begin in spring 2005. Completion is due in winter 2008/09. Visit www.amec.com and www.tfl.gov.uk/dlr/index.shtml 53/04-01/05.AMEC has contracted with Lovat for the purchase of a new TBM for the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) extension from King George V station to Woolwich Arsenal in east London. Lovat is to design and custom manufacture a 6 m-diameter soft ground machine. Crossing the Thames, the TBM model ME238SE series 21800 is to bore a 1.83 km twin tunnel. The machine will be erecting and installing prefabricated concrete segments, forming an 8-piece, tapered trapezoidal ring, having an outside diameter of 5.8 m and an internal diameter of 5.3 m. The machine features a screw conveyor with a peripheral drive mechanism for a rear discharge to a muck pump. This approach will be taken for material removal for the first 300-500 metres, then switched to a continuous belt conveyor for the remainder of the drive. The geology expected along the tunnel alignment will generally consist of terrace gravels, chalk and Thanet sands. This EPB machine is expected to encounter pressures of 4 bar. Delivery to the site is expected by November 2005. Visit www.lovat.com, www.amec.com and http://developments.dlr.co.uk/extensions/woolwich/index.shtml 25/05.