Following the award of the Chiltern Railways Franchise, one of the early deliverables was Evergreen Phase 1. John Laing provided Chiltern Railways with the Senior Project Manager, Commercial Manager and technical support as required. The scope of Evergreen 1 was specified by John Laing/Chiltern Railways and developed accordingly by Network Rail, supported by the implementation contractors.

Following the successful completion of Evergreen Phase 1 in readiness for the West Coast Main Line closures in August 2002, work commenced on the development of the next phase. This scheme would be different in many ways to Phase 1 as it provides a line of route enhancement extending the capability provided in Phase 1 from Bicester to Marylebone. The project will be the first UK rail project carried out as a Design, Build, Finance and Transfer project promoted by John Laing on behalf of Chiltern Railways. John Laing is currently in detailed negotiations with the SRA / DfT, Network Rail and the contractors on this groundbreaking project.