Thursday 20 Sep 2012
NETWORK RAIL AWARDS CROSSRAIL SIGNALLING CONTRACT FOR GREAT WESTERN MAINLINE
- Region & Route:
- | Wales & Western: Western
- | Wales & Western
Network Rail has appointed Osborne to deliver over £7m of signalling enabling works for Crossrail’s western section.
Osborne will be responsible for delivering the Crossrail west outer signalling renewal – civils works, covering a 17-mile section from West Drayton to Maidenhead.
The contract works involve the design and construction of infrastructure in support of the new signalling works, including concrete bases for signalling equipment and buildings, renewal of concrete cable troughs and works such as site clearance, fencing, steps, guardrails and safety barriers.
This section of the western main line provides an essential link for passengers travelling to central London and accessing Heathrow Airport. When it opens in 2018, Crossrail will offer faster, quieter, greener and more reliable services to passengers on these routes.
Jorge Mendonca, Crossrail programme director, Network Rail, said: “My team's role is to transform the surface railway to make Crossrail a success. The work Osborne is doing is an important piece of this complex jigsaw. We’ll be working hand-in-hand with them to complete this section of work on time and budget to provide a more reliable service for passengers travelling from Maidenhead to London.”
Dave Hooper, executive director of Osborne, said: “These works will play an important role in improving the rail experience for the millions of passengers who travel on this stretch of track each year. We have a 25 year track record of delivering high profile rail projects whilst maintaining the operational railway, and will be using high street environment working best practice and innovative construction techniques to deliver these works as efficiently as possible while remaining focused on the safety and operation of the railway.”
The work is set to be completed in phases with the final phase finishing in spring 2013.
Notes to editors
About Crossrail
Crossrail will run from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 13-mile tunnels under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. It will bring an additional 1.5m people within 45 minutes commuting distance of London's key business districts. When it opens from 2018, Crossrail will provide new transport links with the Tube, Thameslink, National Rail, DLR and London Overground.
Network Rail delivering Crossrail
Network Rail is a key partner in Crossrail and is making significant investment in upgrading the network around London to deliver it. This complements Network Rail’s other work to increase capacity and improve performance across Britain.
Network Rail is responsible for the design, development and delivery of the parts of Crossrail that are on the existing network. Its work will integrate Crossrail with the national rail network, delivering faster, more frequent trains into central London from the east and west. The work includes upgrading 43 miles of track, redeveloping 27 stations, and renewing more than 20 bridges. Network Rail will do all of this on an active operational railway, delivering vital upgrade works whilst minimising disruption to train services.
About Osborne
Osborne is one of the UK's leading family-owned construction, civil engineering and property services businesses, with expertise in delivering projects for our clients in affordable homes, civic & amenities, education healthcare, commercial, civil engineering, rail, airports and property services sectors. Founded in 1966 by civil engineer Geoffrey Osborne, the company employs over 900 people across four offices in the southern half of the UK and turned over £281 million in its last financial year.
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About Network Rail
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.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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