Last Sunday, 27 August, new technology was installed on the line between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin in Hertfordshire to prepare it for the introduction of a digital signalling system.

New equipment was installed that detects the location of trains and provides constant communication between trains and signalling control centres. The installation is part of a billion-pound signalling upgrade on the East Coast Main Line.

The East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP) is designed to produce a more reliable railway through the use of digital signalling. This replaces traditional lineside signals with signalling information being fed directly to a screen in train drivers’ cabs.

Over the weekend, the power signal box at Peterborough was closed, with its local signalling functions transferred to a new Service Delivery Centre (SDC) in York’s modern Rail Operating Centre.

Consolidating the signalling operations will allow trains to move more efficiently through junctions and reduce delays. The Service Delivery Centre also brings operations and signalling staff together in the same room, thereby boosting collaboration and helping to manage incidents more efficiently.

The East Coast Digital Programme is implementing digital signalling along the East Coast Main Line using the European Train Control System (ETCS).

That is a proven technology which is already in use in many countries in Europe and elsewhere. Further information about the East Coast Digital Programme can be found at www.nextgenerationrailway.co.uk.

It is the first time that the European Train Control System has been installed on a British intercity mainline, and will form the basis for its use to be expanded and rolled out across the network.

Although this is its first installation on an intercity mainline in the UK, the system is currently in use in the central London section of Thameslink and on the Cambrian Line in Wales.

Ricky Barsby, Network Rail’s Head of Access and Integration for the East Coast Digital Programme, said: “The work done this weekend in Hertfordshire and Peterborough provides another step forward to a digital East Coast railway that is more reliable and greener. I thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this important work over a Bank Holiday weekend.”

A spokesperson on behalf of the train operators, said: “We would like to thank all our passengers for their patience while this upgrade work was carried out.  We appreciate that some journeys will have taken longer than normal to be completed, but the work will help prepare for a digital future with more reliable services”.