TENDERS for Ebbsfleet international rail station on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) in north Kent have been issued.

Five companies have been invited to quote to build the station - between the A2 and Northfleet - and the other international station to be built at Stratford in east London.

The competing firms are Laing, Costain, John Mowlem, Kier Construction and Skanska Construction UK.

The new Ebbsfleet station includes construction of the North Kent Line station including platforms and passenger facilities which will bring domestic trains on to the CTRL for the 17 minute journey into St Pancras.

Work is scheduled to be finished in early 2006, before the line construction ends.

When complete in 2007, the £5.2 billion CTRL will halve journey times from central London to the Channel Tunnel.

It will also provide Kent commuters with new high-speed domestic services to London and back, says Rail Link Engineering.