Babcock has taken over Jarvis track renewal work and will be writing to 346 workers on these contracts offering them work under Babcock terms and conditions.

But only 35 staff are likely to receive job offers from the main York office where 350 of Jarvis’ 1,100 staff worked.

A spokeswoman for Babcock said: “Letters with job offers will be going out this week.

“Some people will not be offered the exact role they had before because Babcock has a different operational structure.”

The transfer of Jarvis renewals work hands Babcock 50% of all plain track renewals in this country. Balfour Beatty and Colas account for around 25% each.

Babcock will now operate in Scotland, the Midlands, and London north western and north eastern regions.

Peter Henderson, Network Rail’s director of asset management, said: “This contract represents a significant proportion of our track renewals activity and it was crucial that we found a contractor who could deliver safe, reliable renewals and who also offered value for money.

“We have completed this process as quickly as possible and I hope that Babcock’s announcement will be welcomed by former Jarvis employees.”

The TUPE deal comes as Babcock has just instituted heavy cuts to its own 1,600-strong workforce after withdrawing from bidding for multi-disciplinary railway contracts.