£50 MILLION INVESTMENT SIGNALS THE FUTURE

Tuesday 24 May 2005

£50 MILLION INVESTMENT SIGNALS THE FUTURE

Region & Route:: National

Passengers in the Portsmouth area are set to benefit from a new state of the art signalling scheme. The computer-based interlocking system – one of the first on the network – will offer passengers improved levels of reliability and reduce delays. Network Rail will work closely with Siemens on the design and building of the £50 million scheme. 131 signals and 47 sets of points over 58 track miles are set to be replaced, and the system will be controlled from a new signalling centre at Havant. Projects and Engineering Director, Peter Henderson, said: “This infrastructure project is part of Network Rail’s drive to improve the condition of its assets, increasing reliability and delivering a better train service performance for passengers in the Portsmouth area. The huge task of rebuilding our railway is well underway.” The new system will support track renewal and remodelling work in the Portsmouth, Fratton and Havant areas with signalling control extending to Emsworth, Petersfield and Fareham. Work starts in July and it is expected to be completed in 2007.

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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

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