Ferrovial Bam JV is among the winners revealed today of £3bn-worth of HS2 track, signalling and communications contracts.
These rail systems contracts will be signed after a statutory 10-day standstill period and mark the beginning of a new stage for the project, as 140 miles of tunnels, bridges and earthworks between London and the West Midlands transformed into a twin-track railway.
More than 1,200 miles of optical fibre cabling will form the railway’s central nervous system – providing signalling and communications for staff and passengers.
The main rail systems contractors will be brought together under a collaborative Rail Systems Alliance structure designed to manage the interfaces between them and resolve any conflicts in the programme. All members will collaborate on design, access, resources and logistics to achieve common goals for cost and schedule.
The initial design stage of the work will run parallel with the completion of the civil engineering – currently at its peak – so that the rail systems contractors are ready to mobilise to site as soon as the civils work is complete.
All three lots of the track systems contract is going to the Ferrovial Construction/Bam Nuttall joint venture. Ferrovial Bam will oversee the design and construction of the HS2 track infrastructure, manage construction logistics and support the testing and commissioning phase. It will act as principal contractor for works associated with the track and be responsible for logistics and consents co-ordination.
The work covers the route from Old Oak Common to the terminus at Birmingham Curzon Street. It includes the design and construction of the infrastructure maintenance depot at Calvert, the interface with Washwood Heath Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot and the permanent connection to the existing rail network at Handsacre Junction.
Switches and crossings and pre-cast slab track forming the HS2 track system will be delivered through existing contracts with Austrian companies Voestalpine and Porr UK – with the track systems contractor coordinating the design, logistics and installation. Rail will be supplied through Network Rail.
The contract for the overhead catenary systems (OCS) is going to Colas Rail, a subsidiary of the French construction group Bouygues. Colas Rail will be responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the entire OCS. It will use the French V360 OCS design range under licence from SNCF Reseau to develop the next stages of design.
The operational telecommunications and security systems will be designed, supplied, installed, tested and commissioned by German-owned Siemens Mobility.
Siemens Mobility has also been handed the contracts for command, control, signalling & traffic management (CCS&TM) and for the digital engineering management system that will enable remote supervisory control of railway assets and systems
Hitachi Rail GTS UK and Telent Technology Services JV (TTJV) will supply third party telecommunications. TTJV will be responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, safety authorisation, testing, commissioning and initial maintenance of the systems that will provide the mobile communications for customers to use, as well as the emergency services and the station data network. Telent is the only British company to have been selected for this phase of the national flagship project.
A separate contract to deliver the Washwood Heath depot and Network Integrated Control Centre is set to be awarded next year.
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