Network Rail has given Amey and Carillion 12-month extensions to contracts on lines in Exeter, Gloucester and Bristol, which were due for renewal this spring. The contracts, together with the track in Reading, make up the Great Western Railway zone.
The usual length for contracts is five years but Network Rail has temporarily extended these deals while it finalises details of its maintenance programme, which is due to start next year.
Amey will retain control of the Exeter contract and Carillion will continue to work on the Gloucester and Bristol lines until the new maintenance programme is up and running. The three lines will be tendered as a single contract at the end of March 2004.
The maintenance programme on these lines will entail more inspection and decision-making by Network Rail. Contractors will be expected to focus on short-term planning and maintenance.
The National Rail Contractors Group supported the move. Chairman David Cawthra said relations between Network Rail and contractors had improved.
Cawthra said: "It is inevitable that contractors are going to lose out if Network Rail finds it can do the work better, be it through competitive pricing or exercising its right to do its own work, though that is unlikely to happen."
The Reading contract will be taken in-house when it reaches the end of its five-year term in March. Network Rail described the move as a benchmarking exercise.
Union RMT also welcomed Network Rail's decision over the Reading line but questioned its motives.
Assistant general secretary Mick Cash said: "Why didn't it take in the whole Great Western zone when all those contracts are up for grabs at the end of March? This wasn't just about benchmarking, but pacifying those concerned about safety after Ladbroke Grove and the derailing in Ealing last year."
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