Network Rail will soon complete construction of a £100m emergency communications system on one of the busiest parts of the UK rail network.

The system, built by Marconi, will provide vital communications between train drivers and signallers on the West Coast Mainline route, which covers 1,660 miles of track between London Euston and Glasgow.

The network, due to go live in May, will carry voice and data traffic using 174 mobile radio sites and 600km of optical fibre, which will provide links even in tunnels and cuttings.

The synchronous digital hierarchy network will use 22 fibre-optic nodes to also provide high-speed delivery of other Network Rail operational systems and business applications.

'This is a significant day in the programme of the West Coast Mainline modernisation project,' said Eric Mumm, control systems director of Network Rail's West Coast route modernisation (WCRM) project.

'The work that Marconi has undertaken is of immense importance for the safe operation of the West Coast route.'

Marconi is working on final testing of the system, ready to be handed over in May.

A WCRM spokesman told Computing the system will form part of Network Rail's proposed GSM-R national rail communications system aimed at improving safety (Computing, 9 June 2004).

GSM-R will also provide secure voice and data communications between drivers and signallers.

It will become an essential UK part of the planned European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), recommended by the 2001 Uff/Cullen inquiry into train protection systems following the 1999 Paddington crash.

The full nationwide GSM-R service is expected to be operational by 2013, two years before the deadline for ERTMS (Computing, 8 April 2004).

Network Rail has also announced a renewal of its telecommunications contracts across parts of the UK as part of a cost reduction project.

Marconi has won a five-year contract for the south-eastern part of the network, estimated to be worth £4m in the first year.

Suppliers Thales, Siemens and First Engineering have also won five-year deals, worth between £2m and £3m in the first year.