Network Rail has awarded Signalling Solutions Ltd a contract worth approximately £5m to install parent company Alstom’s Smartlock interlocking technology for the Crossrail Surface Signalling West Inner relocking project on the Great Western Main Line.
The final commissioning date for the new interlockings is late December 2011 and will be preceded by a number of rehearsals to prove the new system and minimise disruption to the railway.
The contract will see the thirteen existing solid state interlockings (SSI) located and controlled in Slough, replaced by four Smartlock 400T interlockings, located and controlled in Network Rail’s new Thames Valley Signalling Centre in Didcot.
The area controlled by the new system extends from London’s Western Terminus, Paddington to West Drayton, a distance of around 12.5 miles, and includes the branch line to London Heathrow Airport.
The project will make the line ‘future ready’ when in-cab European Train Control System is overlaid on the line, by 2016.
It will also provide additional signalling capacity to support the signalling requirements for the planned Crossrail line, due to be operational by 2018.
Steve McLaren, MD of Signalling Solutions Ltd said:
“The award of this significant order demonstrates Network Rail’s confidence in SSL to deliver this crucial, time-critical project which provides a step towards the development of ETCS as well as the first phase of the signalling changes required to support Crossrail.”
