Case study
East Coast Train Control Partner
Siemens Rail Infrastructure for Network Rail Limited
Project Overview
The East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP) is a cross-industry initiative that will help transform the performance of the East Coast Main Line, one of the busiest and most important economic routes in the UK. Comprising of three contracts valued at around £1.1bn, the first stage of the East Coast Digital Programme is intended to lay the foundations for a wider roll-out of cab signalling across the network.
Overview
The TCP package covers the southern section of the route from London King’s Cross to Stoke Summit, between Peterborough and Grantham, and requires the winning bidder to deploy and sustain a high-performance train control infrastructure based on the European Train Control System (ETCS), and incorporating design, build and maintenance of ETCS together with associated infrastructure for the lifetime of the assets on the ECML. This also includes the technical integration of an end-to-end system, including with other existing or proposed systems.
Approach
This was the first project undertaken for Siemens. The tender was conducted in two stages, with a down-select from 3 to 2 bidders taking place between Stage 1 and Stage 2. Value of frameworks: £900 million.
Stage 1: Submission of 20 written responses, covering a broad range of topics including system design, performance, maintenance, whole life costing, benefits realisation, stakeholder management, health and safety and sustainability.
Stage 2: Submission of 27 written responses, comprising primarily of strategies and scheme plans that build upon the Stage 1 submission, along with extensive plans for upgrading the Northern City Line.
Due to the size of the tender, the business required new bid production processes and document templates, and an end-to-end production process from Storyboards, through Bronze, Silver and Gold reviews and a final sign off procedure. A rigorous evaluation process was implemented to ensure that responses met and exceeded all requirements.
Results
Siemens was awarded the project in February 2020. Numerous responses scored the maximum 10/10 during evaluation and the overall evaluation score difference between Siemens and the other bidder was 1.2%.