£20m plan to put rail services back on track

Network Rail says that train passengers can look forward to a safer and more reliable service, following the signing of a £20m deal to overhaul its IT systems.

The rail operator has signed a five-year contract with supplier SchlumbergerSema to standardise and modernise existing systems, providing Network Rail with more accurate information about its operations.

SchlumbergerSema will work with Network Rail staff to develop and update existing information management functionality to support plans for the railway infrastructure.

'The partnership will provide an enhanced information management strategy and a range of projects to rationalise, standardise and modernise the current IT infrastructure and application architecture,' a Network Rail spokesman told Computing.

'This will extend the provision of consistent and accurate information and help enable it to be delivered to the right people at the right time so that Network Rail can manage its business more effectively. This should enable us to improve safety, performance, financial control and asset stewardship to the benefit of all our customers,' he said.

Network Rail, which acquired Railtrack in October, told Computing last year that it would spend 'hundreds of millions of pounds' improving the IT systems supporting the rail network (Computing 8 August, 2002).

The company inherited its IT infrastructure from Railtrack and many of the systems are ageing and not well-integrated, some dating back to British Rail days.

SchlumbergerSema will work with Network Rail to develop specific, but as yet undisclosed, projects to improve IT efficiency.

Network Rail wants to improve its systems to allow the organisation to gain a clear understanding of its costs, prior to an assessment of its progress at an interim review with the Strategic Rail Authority and the Office of Rail Regulation at the end of March 2004.

SchlumbergerSema's contract will be reviewed at the same time.