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• Six-year contract to VP Plc for the maintenance, repair and supply of small plant
• Leading to cost savings of £2.5m per year
• 42 apprenticeships to be created with VP Plc

Network Rail have teamed up with the charity Railway Children to host a second annual sleepout event in railway stations across the country, raising money and awareness for the work being done to help the thousands of vulnerable children who pass through the railway every year.

Network Rail has announced the award of 82 framework contracts to deliver design services across the country, worth an estimated £400m for Control Period 6 (2019-2024) and up to £640m including the options to extend the framework into Control Period 7 (2024-2029).

• CodingCats – a group of innovators from the tech sector – wins Hack Partners’ sixth HackTrain event
• Its algorithm could allow the rail industry to unlock spare capacity by providing more detailed information on how long trains spend through congested parts of the network and the impact to services
• Eight ideas from the event to be taken forward by Network Rail and hackers as part of a post-Hackathon acceleration initiative, generating results much faster than before

Network Rail and Strukton Rail have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support the delivery of Network Rail’s £245m research and development (R&D) portfolio in Control Period 6.

• £111m to be invested to improve the network over the Christmas and New Year period
• Vast majority of railway remains open for ‘business as usual’
• A small number of lines see major change where passengers should check before they travel