Firstco are delighted to announce that, following a competitive tender process, Heathrow Express has chosen Firstco to support all their communication and control systems. The contract will run for three years with an option of extending it to ten.

Heathrow Express has been in operation since 1998 and is a premium service with customer experience consistently rated as one of the top train operators. It relies on its business partners to play a pivotal role in support of its business goals. Firstco are therefore proud to have been the systems support partner to Heathrow Express since 2002.

The contract, as well as providing consultative and project management services, also includes full maintenance and support of the station, tunnel and business systems. Twenty-four-hour support is provided 365 days a year to ensure the continued smooth running of the Heathrow Express service.

Steve Chambers, director of service proposition at Heathrow Express, said: “I am delighted that Firstco’s unique mix of experience, knowledge and insightful client integration will continue to drive value through our asset and supply chain management capability to grow the business over the coming years.”

Bill Martin, managing director of Firstco, said: “We are proud to have been a business partner of Heathrow Express and been able to contribute to the success of their operation. This new contract award helps cement our relationship and we look forward to the challenge of helping Heathrow Express through its next stage of development.”

Firstco completed the design and implementation of the control systems for the terminal five extension to the Heathrow Express service. The knowledge gained through the support contract enabled new and old systems to be seamlessly integrated leading to the successful start of operations at T5 opening in 2008.