Public body responsible for delivering major rail project issues tender for technology work – with plan that includes built-in mechanism to either include Manchester line or limit development to Birmingham branch
The public body overseeing the rollout of HS2 opened bidding for a contract to deliver a key £100m software system – just hours before the prime minister announced that a large part of the planned rail project is being scrapped.
Construction is already underway on the programme’s first phase, which will implement a new high-speed rail line from London to the West Midlands.
The plan for the phases 2a and 2b was to extend the line further north to Crewe and Manchester, respectively.
Speculation has grown in recent days that ministers were set to cancel these second two phases. This was confirmed yesterday by prime minister Rishi Sunak during his speech at the Conservative party conference.
Just hours beforehand – around 2.45pm on Tuesday – HS2 Ltd, an arm’s-length body of the Department for Transport, published a contract notice for the supply of the technology to underpin a “train dispatch system” (TDS) to be rolled out at each HS2 station.
Related content
- HS2 signs £10m IT partner
- HS2 tech systems will ‘still be state of the art’ in mid-2030s, minister claim
- HS2 signs £280k software deals for social media and political monitoring
The system will represent a “novel combination of platform CCTV and safety software with a bespoke user interface”, according to the notice. This will be comprised of “a network of cameras linked to central control rooms that will monitor the 400-metre long platforms to ensure that passengers have safely entered the trains before the signal is given to close the doors and leave the station”.
The procurement process is seeking to identify and appoint tech firms to two separate contracts lasting for up to 20 years, and respectively dedicated to the development and support of the TDS.
The notice sets out potential total spending during this time of £84m plus VAT – the addition of which would take the value of the deal to a little over £100m. However, this figure is based on delivering the dispatch system across the entirety of the originally planned line – all the way to Manchester.
However, the notice specifies that work on deploying the technology at locations north of Birmingham will be “subject to the issue by HS2 Ltd of notices to proceed” and, if the winning bidder is only required to complete work at the stations covered by the first stage of the project, spending via the contracts will be about £70m.
This figure may increase somewhat if HS2 decides to press on with an optional provision for the development of a “gap monitoring” system to be implemented on train platforms, the document adds.
Once suppliers have been picked, the two deals will be come into effect “simultaneously”, according to HS2.
The first of these is a “a design and build contract for the design, software development, prototyping, factory testing, integration testing, installation, static and dynamic testing and commissioning of the TDS”.
The second is “a technical support contract to undertake technical support, install system upgrades, and undertake asset inspection or maintenance of each section after completion” as part of the first deal.
Bidding for the deals is open until 14 November, with contracts scheduled to come into effect in March next year.
“HS2 Ltd reserves the right to omit and/or vary the scope of the contracts,” the notice adds.
I acquired more a new challenge on this fat reduction issue. Just one issue is that good nutrition is tremendously vital any time dieting. An enormous reduction in bad foods, sugary meals, fried foods, sugary foods, beef, and white-colored flour products may perhaps be necessary. Retaining wastes unwanted organisms, and toxic compounds may prevent ambitions for losing fat. While certain drugs for the short term solve the challenge, the terrible side effects usually are not worth it, and they never present more than a momentary solution. It is just a known incontrovertible fact that 95 of fad diet plans fail. Many thanks for sharing your thinking on this blog.
I cling on to listening to the news update speak about receiving free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the finest site to get one. Could you tell me please, where could i find some?
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100 sure. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Appreciate it
I’m really loving the theme/design of your web site. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility problems? A handful of my blog readers have complained about my website not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?
Thanks for revealing your ideas. The first thing is that pupils have a solution between federal government student loan and a private student loan where its easier to choose student loan debt consolidation reduction than with the federal student loan.
I carry on listening to the news bulletin talk about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one. Could you tell me please, where could i find some?