{"id":92593,"date":"2021-04-27T09:44:16","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T08:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=92593"},"modified":"2021-04-27T09:44:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T08:44:16","slug":"network-rail-contractors-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/network-rail-contractors-upgrade\/92593\/","title":{"rendered":"Network Rail seeks \u00a31bn investment in telecoms infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.networkrail.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Network Rail<\/a> is seeking private sector investment in its trackside fibre optic cable network in a deal that would enable performance, safety and connectivity benefits for passengers<\/h2>\n<p>The contract will save the taxpayer up to \u00a31bn in costs and support the government\u2019s objectives to improve connectivity across Britain, including in rural area.<\/p>\n<p>This plan aims to secure the funding necessary to upgrade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/bim-news\/telecoms-digital-twin-solution\/90931\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">telecoms infrastructure<\/a> along the rail network in an innovative way without relying on subsidies from government or passengers.<\/p>\n<p>The contract includes carrying information essential to running the railway such as signalling for trains, trackside sensors, CCTV, and internet for trains, railway depots and offices \u2013 are due to be upgraded.<\/p>\n<p>As Network Rail will not require the full capacity of new cutting-edge fibre optics, there will be sufficient capacity for a third-party to run its own telecoms services \u2013 making use of the significant geographical reach of the national rail network to meet demand for improved fibre connectivity and taking advantage of the lower cost of fibre deployment along the railway when compared with other deployment methods.<\/p>\n<h3>If successful, the deal would offer:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Train performance<\/li>\n<li>Safety<\/li>\n<li>Train connectivity<\/li>\n<li>Rural connectivity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Meeting growing connectivity needs<\/h3>\n<p>Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said:\u00a0\u201cOur telecoms infrastructure requires an upgrade if we are to meet the growing connectivity needs of passengers and the railway itself \u2013 particularly to make sure our fibre capacity can handle more data, at greater speed, more reliably.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis proposal makes good business sense for all parties. We get a cutting-edge, future-proof telecoms infrastructure; the investor gets a great business opportunity; train passengers in Britain get an improved service for years to come, and the taxpayer saves a significant amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: \u201cUpgrading the fibre optic cable network beside our railways has the potential to create a more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/bim-news\/digital-engineering-hs2\/83593\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">digitally-connected railway<\/a>, and could lay the foundations towards eradicating the blackspots and phone signal outages which infuriate passengers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnlocking the skills and expertise of the private sector will benefit passengers and help create a modern railway that connects the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Network Rail will review all expressions of interest and aims to finalise the transaction with a preferred bidder by the end of 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Interested parties are advised to contact <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lazard.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lazard<\/a> \u2013 Network Rail\u2019s advisers on the deal \u2013 at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:lazard_reach@lazard.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lazard_reach@lazard.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mk-custom-module-container\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Network Rail is seeking private sector investment in its trackside fibre optic cable network in a deal that would enable performance, safety and connectivity benefits for passengers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[676,856,688,276,579,952,928,753,280],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-92593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-planning-construction-news","7":"tag-construction","8":"tag-construction-technology","9":"tag-digital-construction","10":"tag-government","11":"tag-infrastructure","12":"tag-planning","13":"tag-rail-network","14":"tag-safety","15":"tag-transport"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Network Rail seeks \u00a31bn investment in telecoms infrastructure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Network Rail is seeking investment in its trackside fibre optic cable network in a deal that would enable performance, safety and connectivity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/network-rail-contractors-upgrade\/92593\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Network Rail seeks \u00a31bn investment in telecoms infrastructure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Network Rail is seeking investment in its trackside fibre optic cable network in a deal that would enable performance, safety and connectivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/network-rail-contractors-upgrade\/92593\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building &amp; 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