King’s Cross takes major project prize

The remodelling of King’s Cross station as part of Network Rail’s East Coast upgrade has won the Major Project prize at the 2021 Railway Innovation Awards.

The awards, the longest standing scheme in the industry, are organised by the Modern Railways Fourth Friday Club in partnership with the Railway Industry Association. Prizes were awarded in eight categories at a lunchtime ceremony held at the Hilton London Canary Wharf on 15 October, with trophies for the winners and certificates for Highly Commended and Shortlisted entries.

The King’s Cross project involved the renewal of track, signalling and overhead line equipment on the approach to the station, including the replacement of the life-expired track layout with a redesigned, simpler layout as well as realignment and lengthening of the platforms. The third bore of Gasworks Tunnel was brought back into use, and a section of Camden Sewer underneath the track bed was redesigned and rebuilt.

Runner-up in the Major Project category was the redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street station. The Network Rail project at Scotland’s third busiest station formed part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme, with platforms extended and a new concourse and façade built.

A full write-up of the awards will appear in the Rail Innovation supplement to the December 2021 issue of Modern Railways. The full list of winners is below.

Major Project

Winner: King’s Cross Remodelling – Network Rail

Highly Commended: Glasgow Queen Street Redevelopment – Network Rail

Cross-Industry Partnership

Winner: Transport Accessibility Solution – GoMedia

Highly Commended: Luminate Traffic Management System – Resonate; FFA-G Wagon – Freightliner

Engineering and Safety

Winner: Flow Footbridge – Network Rail/Knight Architects

Highly Commended: Winter Aerial Survey – Network Rail; DGauge Rift – DGauge

Shortlisted: Physical Prevention of Overspeeding System – DB ESG and Sella Controls

Environment and Sustainability

Winner: FLEX – Porterbrook

Highly Commended: ClearTrak – GBR-Rail; Denmark Hill station upgrade– Network Rail

Shortlisted: HVO Locomotive – DB Cargo

Operations and Performance

Winner: Operation Watershed – Govia Thameslink Railway

Highly Commended: Jumbo Trains – Freightliner; Critical Rail Monitor 3000 – Dual Inventive

Shortlisted: Rail Demand Information System – RASIC

Passenger Experience

Winner: Virtual Reality Technology – CCD Design & Ergonomics and WSP

Highly Commended: Project Horizon – LNER; Seatfinder – Southeastern

Shortlisted: Security Surveillance Analytics – Network Rail

People, Skills and Diversity

Winner: Community Initiatives – Govia Thameslink Railway

Highly Commended: Diversity & Inclusion Recruitment Strategy – Govia Thameslink Railway; People at the Heart of the Business – 3Squared

Small Scale Project

Winner: Digital Innovation and Collaboration in Engineering – Network Rail

Highly Commended: TrackWater 2.0 – Network Rail; The Rail Academy – SLC Operations