Media centre

Thursday 17 Feb 2005

MEDIA INVITATION: SECRETARY OF STATE TO OPEN LATEST INTEGRATED RAIL CONTROL CENTRE

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

| Southern

Date:                            Wednesday 23 February 2005  Time:                           9am for 9.30am Location:                     Anglia Integrated Control Centre                                     East Anglia House, 12-34 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3EH Event:                          Find out more about the new Anglia Integrated Control Centre (ICC) where Network Rail and ‘one’ jointly control all train movements from London Liverpool Street to the East of England Media contact:             Laura Dobson 020 7557 8103 / Laura.Dobson@networkrail.co.uk Journalists and photographers are invited to attend the official opening of the Anglia ICC with Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Transport.  The event will be jointly hosted by  John Armitt, Network Rail Chief Executive, and David Franks, Chief Executive – Trains for National Express, the parent company of ‘one’.  Guests will be taken on a tour of the control centre where they can meet staff and understand how the operation works.  There will also be opportunities for photography, filming and interviews.   The Anglia ICC is the sixth integrated control centre to be launched, where Network Rail and train operator control staff are brought together into the same building and both become answerable to the same person – the new role of Duty Network Manager, colloquially known as the ‘fat controller’ from Thomas the Tank Engine books.  The ICC brings together the expertise of both companies with the latest technology, in a structure that is designed to run the railway in the best interests of passengers.  This launch highlights the rail industry’s continued commitment to joined-up working between       Network Rail and train operating companies.