Formal claim is submitted by operator of Chiltern Railway line following last year's tunnel collapse at Gerrards Cross

Developer and infrastructure operator John Laing has submitted a formal claim to Tesco for compensation following the Gerrards Cross tunnel collapse last year.

The Chiltern Railway line, which is operated by John Laing, was closed for seven weeks when work to build a Tesco store on top of a railway cutting collapsed in June. In a trading update, John Laing said it has commenced proceedings towards arbitration to recover lost revenue.

The firm said that while its reported results from Chiltern would be disappointing, its core PFI and PPP portfolio continued to perform well. Equion, the firm’s PFI/PPP accommodation division, has recently achieved financial close on the £319m South Lanarkshire schools project, and has recently been shortlisted for the Hastings Further Education College.

The company said that international market opportunities remained ‘encouraging’. John Laing is planning to open an office in Canada and another in central Europe to give it greater access to these emerging markets.