Signalling Solutions wins Network Rail Community Engagement Award

At the 2013 Network Rail Partnership Awards, Signalling Solutions Ltd the Alstom/Balfour Beatty Joint Venture company was awarded the Community Engagement Award for the Bletchley Remodelling Project.

The Bletchley Remodelling Project in Milton Keynes was awarded to Signalling Solutions in 2010. The contract to design the signalling system included the supply and installation of four Smartlock interlockings supplied by parent company Alstom

In delivering the project Signalling Solutions recognised that there would be the potential for the project and for Network Rail (NR) to receive negative comments from the neighbouring community, resulting from the significant level of night time construction activity.

Rather than focussing solely on minimising the disruption to local people, the Signalling Solutions team worked closely with other teams involved in the project to develop a package of environmental initiatives that would provide a long lasting legacy for the local community.

The initiative was delivered as several separate environmental improvements, each championed and sponsored by one of the six companies which where party to the Bletchley Remodelling Project.

Signalling Solutions Ltd had sole responsibility for the establisment of a local wildlife site on the slope of an existing railway embankment. The judges were particularly impressed with the fact that the solutions addressed real problems and provided a range of options to address environmental and social aspects. They were also impressed with the clear and tangible measures of success.

Other initiatives (and the respective Champions) included:

• A flood mitigation scheme to address the regular flooding problem suffered by the local community in a street adjacent to the Network Rail land Network Rail; and
• Clearance of an area of severe fly tipping from land within the community adjacent to Bletchley Station Network Rail;

The impact from the combination of these initiatives was very powerful. It included:

• Visible improvements to the quality and fabric of the community;
• Immediate improvements for some of the closest neighbours to the project;
• Long term benefits from the planting of a new wood;
• Positive press coverage for the project resulting in several hundred local people attending the tree planting; and
• An enhanced relationship with the local authority that developed as a result of the clear engagement by the project in the local community. 

Such is the success of this project initiative, Signalling Solutions are now adopting it as a model for all future schemes that it will deliver.

Press contact 
Jonathan Smith
Head of Media Relations, Alstom UK 
Tel 01788 545602 or 07801 775650
jonathan.smith@chq.alstom.com