Westinghouse Rail Systems, part of Invensys Rail Group, has been awarded a contract worth in excess of £20 million by Network Rail to undertake signalling
enabling works at Reading Station.

This represents the first stage of the £425m Reading Redevelopment Project. One of the major hubs in the rail network, Reading Station is a crossroads for both mainline passenger traffic from London to the West and Wales and for cross country and freight services to the North and South. The current configuration means that traffic is often delayed – a situation which can only be addressed by a re-modelling of the tracks and station layout, with new and extended platforms and an elevated track to untangle the lines. Once complete, the whole project will provide capacity for an increased number of trains and faster journey times as well as providing significant improvements to the station for passengers.

The 30 month programme of signalling enabling works starts this month. Over a series of 12 commissionings, Westinghouse will re-lock the existing Reading Station and Spur interlockings to three new WESTLOCK units, re-control the remaining 18 relay interlockings and move signalling and telecommunications control from Reading Station to the new Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot. The work culminates in a final commissioning, scheduled for 5th December 2010 and paves the way for future stages of the remodelling programme.

Critical to the selection of WESTLOCK was Network Rail’s requirement for the enabling works to be non-disruptive and for the chosen technology to allow future migration to ERTMS signalling solutions. WESTLOCK is a high capacity, ERTMSready interlocking solution with proven performance both in the UK and mainland Europe. Each unit provides three times more capacity than a Solid State Interlocking, providing headroom for future expansion and delivering significant cost savings compared to conventional technology.

Commenting on the award of the contract, Mark Wild, Westinghouse’s General Manager, Core Markets, said: “Naturally we are delighted to have won this contract in the face of stiff competition. We have already successfully delivered a number of similar projects, including St Pancras and Edinburgh Waverley and we are in the latter stages of the Glasgow Central project - our dedicated project team is now looking forward to working closely with Network Rail to deliver this critical programme”.

The contract gives Network Rail the option to increase and extend the scope of Westinghouse’s work into the subsequent remodelling phase of the Reading Redevelopment Programme. The whole scheme is jointly funded by Network Rail, the Department for Transport and Reading Borough Council, with the main
programme of works scheduled to run from 2010 to 2015.

Courtesy of Invernsys