Thales’s traffic management system selected by Network Rail to deliver next phase in UK rail revolution

Thales today announced that it has been selected by Network Rail to provide its ARAMIS Traffic Management System (TMS) at two new Regional Operating Centres (ROCs) in Romford and Cardiff, with a contract value of £28.4m.

This will be the first time that the internationally proven TMS technology has been deployed in the UK, and is part of Network Rail’s significant investment targeted at improving rail network performance and capacity. When rolled out nationally, TMS technology will help Network Rail safely integrate, operate and manage the UK rail network through 12 state-of-the-art ROCs.

This new contract follows Thales’s partnership with Network Rail on its innovative Intelligent Infrastructure programme, which is already significantly reducing train delays caused by asset failure. The award-winning programme is believed to be the largest real-time condition monitoring system for the rail sector globally – now monitoring over 30,000 assets in real time.

Thales’s ARAMIS TMS solution is already used to control more than 60,000 trains per day in 11 countries – including Germany, Austria and Portugal, where its adoption has significantly improved performance, managing trains in complex mixed traffic networks similar to the UK’s. The solution has continually evolved since its launch, building on feedback from the large user community. Network Rail and its stakeholders are now part of this user community and will be able to share best practice with other users globally.
In the UK Thales employs around 1,300 people in its transportation business, across eight main sites that include Glasgow, York, Manchester, Birmingham and London. Thales UK has recently gained BS11000* registration for its collaborative relationship with Siemens on TMS, and intends to extend this registration to include the Network Rail TMS delivery team.