More than £1 billion of funding has been released by Government for the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP) to introduce European Train Control System (ETCS) on the southern stretch of the East Coast main line from King’s Cross to Stoke Tunnel, south of Grantham.
The move marks the approval of the Full Business Case for ECDP. Around £350 million of investment has already been committed to ECDP, and Network Rail will request a further £427 million as part of the Control Period 7 settlement for 2024-29, taking the total investment to nearly £2 billion. Of that figure, around half covers infrastructure, with 20% for rolling stock and 25% covering business change (including a major crew training programme).
The East Coast South stretch covers around 100 miles of railway and incorporates 1,600 Signalling Equivalent Units (SEUs), equating to around 1,000 signals. The ECDP programme brings together over 30 organisations with the aim of creating a partnership approach and commercial model which could see digital signalling rolled out elsewhere on the network.
Network Rail’s Director, Industry Partnership for Digital Railway Toufic Machnouk highlighted in a briefing to journalists the ‘game changing nature’ of in-cab signalling. ‘It’s …
