Jarvis on track

JARVIS, the construction and property group, is to buy a track renewals train for pounds 6m as part of the West Coast Main Line upgrade. The first high-output railway track-laying machine in the UK, which removes old sleepers and rails and replaces them four times faster than the conventional method, would be financed through an operating lease, Jarvis said.

Railtrack's pounds 2.1bn upgrade of the West Coast Main Line is expected to begin during 2000 after Jarvis's new machine arrives in the UK next year to undergo trials.