TSSA welcomes East Coast Mainline digital signalling

TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes, has welcomed the proposed introduction of Britain's first mainline digital railway, describing it as a "major step forward". 

The Government has announced that the East Coast Mainline – linking London and Edinburgh – is earmarked to receive £350m of new investment to install state-of-the art electronic signalling designed to cut journey times and slash delays. The new technology would allow signallers to know exactly where each train is at every minute of every journey. 

Manuel Cortes, said: 

"This is a major step forward for our railways. Digital signalling is vital because it allows increased capacity, with trains able to run closer to each other in safety, maximising the use of existing infrastructure. It also makes our railways even safer. 

"Ministers need to tell us when work will begin because digitising the East Coast Mainline – which accounts for over 80 million journeys every year – will be much needed as our country begins to move out of the shadow of the pandemic. As we have seen of late, our railways are not a luxury but an absolutely vital public service that must be in public hands. 

"I say to Government – we must speed up major technological investment in our network. We need a signalling system fit for the 21st Century in order to help regional and national economies to recover and thrive after the virus."