HS2 has invited three bidders to tender for a major contract to provide and maintain the station control systems at the high-speed rail project’s four new stations.
Hitachi Rail GTS UK, Indra Sistemas and Siemens Mobility will compete for the contract to oversee the control systems at London Euston, Old Oak Common, Interchange and Birmingham Curzon Street.
A network of cameras linked to central control rooms will monitor the 400-metre long platforms at each of the stations, ensuring that trains are not given the signal to close their doors and leave the station until passengers have safely alighted and boarded.
This will help to ensure that trains carrying up to a thousand passengers can run efficiently as possible.
HS2 Ltd’s Procurement Director, Andew Cubitt, said: “Train Dispatch Systems will play a vital role in the operation of our services – ensuring efficient and safe dispatch of the HS2 trains from our new stations.”
Old Oak Common and Interchange will also be fitted with platform edge doors, to be procured under a separate contract. A team of dispatchers at each station will use the train dispatch system to give approval for the platform edge doors to close and authorise the train’s departure.
HS2 Ltd began the formal procurement process in October 2023 and intends to award two contracts to the same contractor. One contract will be for design, installation, testing and commissioning, while the second will be for up to 15 years of asset maintenance and technical support.
The first HS2 services connecting London and Birmingham will run between 2029 and 2033. Over the following years, services will be extended to join the existing mainline north of Birmingham, reaching Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.
Image credit: HS2
