Capgemini wins £11m Tube Lines applications support deal

Transport for London (TfL) has handed over support for IT applications at its Tube Lines unit to services firm Capgemini, in a three-year deal worth £11m.

Capgemini will take over the support for Tube Lines’ core business application as well as continuing its existing IT infrastructure and networks deal. It will also provide desktop support for 2,500 users.

In the coming months, Tube Lines is anticipated to refresh some of its core business application, as well as update its network infrastructure, Lee Wellbrook, Capgemni’s account director for the Tube Lines contract, told Computing.

“Some of that change is driven by applications coming to the end of their life, so there’s a degree of necessity,” he said.

“But also there may be opportunities to realise cost savings as well as enhance services.”

Capgemini will act as prime contractor, working alongside BT Engage, InTechnology and Servo. That has meant that a number of staff, believed to be fewer than 20, have transferred from Logica – Tube Lines’ previous contractor – to Capgemini under TUPE provision.

Tube Lines maintains the trains, tracks and stations for London’s Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly underground lines.

It was acquired by TfL in June 2010, after a long-running dispute over the costs of running London’s underground system. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, had accused Tube Lines’ bosses of “looting” the public purse, charging “rip off” fees.

Under its previous outsourcing agreement with Capgemini, Tube Lines had completed a major desktop refresh, along with a 60 per cent reduction in energy costs achieved through increased use of virtualisation technology.