23.07.07
The truth is out there
Once upon a time, Siemens Transportation Systems won a £50 million Network Rail contract to provide replacement signalling, telecommunications and electrical supply works for the Portsmouth Area Infrastructure Project.
The project involved replacing signalling approaching the end of its life, improving safety and reliability, availability and maintainability of the operational railway for the benefit of the area’s rail passengers and Network Rail.
Siemens would design and build a new signalling system to support track remodelling and renewal work in the Portsmouth, Fratton and Havant areas, with signalling control extending to Emsworth, Petersfield and Fareham.
The system would be controlled from a new signalling centre at Havant using Siemens' VICOS control system, with safe operation provided by a Siemens SIMIS-W signalling interlocking system. As part of the integrated package of work, Siemens would also provide AZSM axle counters for train detection and telephones operated by Siemens’ HiPath telephone concentrator system.
Work on the project was due to be completed earlier this year but has overrun significantly. Network Rail has still not restored the full capability of the line to Portsmouth, with only five services an hour able to run instead of the normal seven.
After reviewing the planning of the scheme and Network Rail's management of Siemens Transportation Systems, the Office of Rail Regulation ORR has found that Network Rail failed to adequately evaluate and mitigate the risks associated with the project and to manage its contractor in line with best practice.
ORR chief executive Bill Emery said that Network Rail “needs to improve its planning and its management of contractors to minimize the risk of resignalling overruns” and that “it must have in place better contingency plans which have been developed in partnership with train operators and which minimize the impact of resignalling overruns if they occur.”
He also said, rather optimistically, that he expects Network Rail “to ensure that it completes the signalling work at Portsmouth in line with its revised timescale” which is understood to be the last week of October this year.
So far, so good – or bad, depending on your point of view. But we still do not know the real cause of the delay. So, rather naively, I contacted Network Rail and Siemens.
Christian Roth, managing director of Siemens Transportation Systems, said "Siemens is working in partnership with Network Rail to ensure the project is successfully completed and that a safe, reliable and robust system is in place."
Network Rail’s response was hardly more enlightening but did refer to “some performance issues with the contractor” which NR said had now been resolved.
Such bland and uninformative statements only serve to fuel speculation and rumours which, in this instance, have not cast Siemens in a favourable light.
RTM is a trade magazine, not an investigative journal. We like to publish the good news stories which the mainstream media tend not to cover. In almost every issue there will be good news stories about the industry and its key players.
We understand that all organisations like to present themselves in the best possible light and, whenever possible, we will try to do so. But when the news is clearly and undeniably bad, we have a duty to report it, too.
The truth about the Portsmouth Area Infrastructure Project is out there. If anybody knows it, do let me know.
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