Media centre

Monday 6 Jun 2005

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

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Date: Wednesday 8 June 2005 Time: 9.30am for 10.00am Location: 100 Wharfside Street, The Mailbox, Birmingham, B1 1RT Event: Find out more about the London North Western integrated control centre where Network Rail, Central Trains and Virgin Trains jointly control train movements on the London North Western route from London Euston to Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. Media contact: Keith Lumley 0121 345 3100 or Hazel Moss 0121 345 3098 Journalists and photographers are invited to attend the official opening of the London North Western integrated control centre by Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Transport. John Armitt, Network Rail Chief Executive, Steve Banaghan, Managing Director Central Trains and Tim Shoveller, Operations Director Virgin Trains West Coast will jointly host the event. 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 filming, photography and interviews. This is the seventh integrated control centre to be launched, where Network Rail and train operator control staff are brought together in the same building and become answerable to the same person – the control duty manager. The centre brings together the expertise of the three companies and the latest technology in a structure that is designed to run the railway in the best interests of passengers. The launch highlights the rail industry’s continued commitment to joined-up working between Network Rail and train operating companies.