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Wednesday 27 Aug 2003

NETWORK RAIL BRINGS SIGNALLING DESIGN ‘IN-HOUSE’.

Region & Route:

National

Network Rail is to bring signalling design ‘in-house’ with the recruitment of some 120 signalling engineers and technicians that is anticipated to deliver savings of some £150 million over the next three years. The move is part of Network Rail’s drive toward engineering excellence by taking greater control over our infrastructure whilst driving down costs and improving performance.  The move will establish an internal team that will produce all future signalling  scheme plans. The new team will provide command, control and strategic direction to the design and development of all signalling and level crossing renewal projects.  A head office team will be supported by regional delivery teams in Croydon, Swindon, York and Birmingham, totalling around 120 specialists in signalling design. The team will define what is required for a scheme, carry out the system design and assume the performance risk. Network Rail believes that having a national team will allow a single consistent approach to be put in place across the country. This will enable a single process to be established and design tools to be developed that will drive through even greater efficiencies and reduce costs. The recruitment process will be started immediately with Network Rail looking for signalling engineers who want to play a pivotal role in rebuilding the railways.                                                                         -more-                                                                                                                                     signalling-2                                                      Network Rail Director of Protects and Engineering, Peter Henderson, said: “This is a significant step in redressing the balance and taking back responsibility for our assets. It is another part of our drive toward engineering excellence and will help us to regain control over the work being carried out on the network. We are confident that the move will play a major part in our mission to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of running the railways through delivery of signalling projects on time and within budget.”