Engineering company Atkins has secured a £29m contract from Network Rail to carry out resignalling works along the 42km route from Norwich to Lowestoft via Great Yarmouth in East Anglia, UK.
The deal will see Atkins offer a complete suite of GRIP 5-8 design, engineering, construction, testing and commissioning services for the rail network.
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The route's existing mechanical interlocking will also be replaced with programmable Alstom-made ElectroLogIXS equipment as part of the development.
Atkins Transportation programme director Adam Parsons said: “The innovative new signalling system will provide a step-change in the way the railway runs.
"It will be safer, more reliable and cheaper to operate and maintain.”
The company plans to use Safety Integrity Level (SIL) software to modernise the signalling systems at Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and will replace most of the trackside collaterals such as cabling and relays with new remote-monitored hardware.
The new equipment will be controlled from a new digital control facility at Colchester Signalling Centre.
Network Rail signalling programme director Huw Edwards said: “We'll be taking out the old Victorian infrastructure and replacing it with modern equivalents.
“We're also going to be improving safety on the railway by upgrading six level crossings and putting in technology to make the railway safer for all.”
Atkins focuses on providing design, engineering and project management consultancies to various industry sectors, and currently has operations in the UK, Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
