The Guided Busway during a day of testing

THE final stretch of Guided Bus track will soon begin to be laid through Trumpington...but the northern section to St Ives is no nearer to being fully completed.

THE final stretch of Guided Bus track will soon begin to be laid through Trumpington...but the northern section to St Ives is no nearer to being fully completed.

Cambridgeshire County Council announced yesterday that the southern section is on course for a December finish.

But contractor BAM Nuttall’s work on repairing the six defects on the stretch of the project between Cambridge and St Ives has stalled.

CCC said more than 80 per cent of the track in the southern section has been laid and all the major structures, such as a new bridge over the railway line linking the route to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, are near to completion.

It added that, if the contractor continues to complete the work at its current rate, the firm should finish the job by mid-December.

Work on the six defects is likely to be finished by CCC. The contract allows the council to to complete the work if BAM has not fixed the defects within a month of completing the southern section.

Bob Menzies, head of busway delivery, said: “With some of the bigger jobs left to do coming in ahead of BAM Nuttall’s latest schedule this is a good sign that the contractor will hit the mid-December completion date.”

BAM Nuttall has been deducted more than £6million in damages for late delivery, and will continue to be deducted almost £14,000 a day until it completes the job.

The project is almost 18 months late and hugely over budget, with current estimates putting the price at £160million against a forecast of £116m.