Balfour Beatty : welcomes Chair of Transport Select Committee Lilian Greenwood MP to its new Rail Innovation Centre

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17 September 2018

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, today hosted the Chair of the Transport Select committee, Lilian Greenwood MP, to its new Rail Innovation Centre in Derby. The visit demonstrated Balfour Beatty's contribution to the development of a more reliable, cost efficient, safe and digital railway as well as showcasing the wider skills, employment and export opportunities that the Centre brings.

The visit forms part of the Railway Industry Association's (RIA) Rail Fellowship Programme, an exciting new campaign, of which Balfour Beatty is a participant, showcasing the work of the UK rail supply chain by allowing Parliamentarians and influencers to gain a better insight into the rail industry. As the Transport Select Committee Chair, Greenwood is a crucial member of the 2018 campaign, alongside a number of MPs who have agreed to take part.

In combination with our York and Matlock offices the purpose-built Rail Innovation Centre employs over 150 leading technicians, engineers, data scientists and developers. It further enhances Balfour Beatty's ability to collaborate and share knowledge with a range of stakeholders and industry partners, strengthen its relationships with the data science community and establish and maintain links with universities.

Lilian Greenwood MP said: 'It was exciting to see all the great work that is being done in the rail industry and to meet the people on the ground who are making it happen. From manufacturing trains, to software and digital innovation, the rail sector has been at the heart of the Midland's economy for over a century, and I was happy to see first-hand the transformative impact investment in rail is continuing to have on the region, and the whole of the UK.

'Visiting Balfour Beatty's new Rail Innovation Centre gave me a great insight into the crucial work being done to bring the digital railway to Britain and secure all the benefits that come with it.'

Peter Kirk, Managing Director Specialist Services at Balfour Beatty, said: 'We are privileged to host Lilian Greenwood to our new Rail Innovation Centre and are thrilled to have received her praise and support for our work in contributing to the delivery of a digital railway.'

'The Balfour Beatty Rail Innovation Centre will not only further drive the development of the digital railway but will also facilitate the creation of high value jobs and careers in the rail industry, provide increased benefits to the local economy and deliver opportunities far wider than the UK as we export our skills and services abroad.'

While touring the Centre Lilian Greenwood was shown a demonstration of Balfour Beatty's latest developments in unattended track measurement systems, signalling, data science and industry leading products and software including, DataMap™ and AssetView™.

She also met with Balfour Beatty engineers, apprentices and graduates to discuss the exciting and innovative opportunities that a career in rail offers, including the Balfour Beatty training schemes available as the company continues its work with The 5% Club, a UK employer-led initiative focused on creating momentum behind the recruitment of apprentices and graduates into the workforce.

Image: Lilian Greenwood MP with Balfour Beatty Engineers

ENDS

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Notes to editors:

• Balfour Beatty (balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 28,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.
• Our main geographies are the UK & Ireland, US and Far East. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics' Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong's first Zero Carbon building, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
• Balfour Beatty is one of the UK's leading rail infrastructure suppliers. From feasibility studies, planning and design through to implementation and asset management, we provide multi-disciplinary rail infrastructure services across the lifecycle of rail assets. Our expertise covers electrification, track, power, civils, specialist rail plant, railway systems and technologies.
• Balfour Beatty also provides a comprehensive range of on-track machines for track geometry improvements and general track works. Our fleet of modern 'Tampers' consist of plain line machines and switches & crossing units. Along with our expert operators and support staff these machines ensure outstanding track quality for our customers.
• Balfour Beatty's current portfolio of rail projects includes the £170 million Track Partnership for London Underground, the £220 million project for track re-modelling of London Bridge and Crossrail projects including the £130 million Abbey Wood station, the £110 million Whitechapel station and the £70 million station at Woolwich. Its most recent contract awards are for the supply, operation and maintenance of 'On Track Machines' or 'Tampers worth £115 million for Network Rail; and, the operation and maintenance of Network Rail's fleet of track maintenance machines, known as 'Stoneblowers' for more than £40 million; and, the five-year 'Reactive Building and Civils Contract' by Network Rail worth up to £50 million over a five-year period for the reactive aspect of the contract.
• Balfour Beatty's Rail Innovation Centre is a purpose built facility in Derby that employs, in combination with our York and Matlock offices, over 150 of the industry's leading technical experts and engineers dedicated to research, development and testing the latest, ground-breaking technologies and working practices in the UK and overseas. These include High Speed Measurement Systems and Automated Inspection and Monitoring Systems which enable track maintenance to be done on passenger trains at high speed, allowing early fault detection and significantly reducing costs.
• Omnicom Balfour Beatty (omnicombalfourbeatty.com) provides a complete range of infrastructure monitoring solutions; these range from trackside, dedicated monitoring trains, RRVs, to the state of the art in service train solutions. Omnicom Balfour Beatty's software solutions complement our hardware products and are compatible with other third-party systems and provide infrastructure owners, maintainers and operators with information to help create informed decisions in real-time or for long terms strategic planning.