UK: Network Rail has awarded Siemens Mobility Ltd a £50m contract for the next stages of the signalling element of the remodelling of Carstairs Junction on the West Coast Main Line.
The remodelling project aims to increase operational resilience and flexibility to help reduce the impact of maintenance or disruption on services. It includes re-configuring and renewing the existing track and 25 kV 50 Hz electrification, with provision for the overhead lines to be switched off remotely, as well as station improvement works, providing a loop able to handle 775 m long freight trains, and creating a station bypass line which will enable journey times to be reduced and would, in some circumstances, enable fast trains to pass slower ones.
Under the contract announced on November 4 Siemens Mobility will design, install, test and commission the signalling works, supplying its Trackguard WTS digital technology to Scotland for the first time. This will enable line speed to be increased through the junction and a temporary speed restriction to be removed.
Work is now underway on detailed scheme design, with final commissioning due to take place with a three-stage blockade between April 23 and June 2 2023.
‘Our early involvement in the project has enabled us to work really closely with Network Rail and our delivery partners to develop a scheme that will provide the greatest benefit to the Scottish public’, said Rob Morris, Managing Director, Rail Infrastructure for Siemens Mobility.
