Network Rail has announced the launch of a new scheme for the procurement of infrastructure upgrade projects.

Called the Eastern Routes Partnership, it will enable major works in Network Rail’s Eastern Region to be awarded directly to supply partners, thereby avoiding the need for costly and time-consuming case-by-case procurement events.

The Eastern Region covers a total of 6,042 track miles, constituting over 30% of the network. It stretches along the east coast of the country, from the Scottish border to London, encompassing major cities such as Newcastle, Sheffield and Norwich.

Teams at Network Rail have been working for two years to set up the partnership.

Now a total of 15 suppliers have been incorporated into the Eastern Routes partnership.

Some of these are specialist smaller suppliers who focus on providing a niche service, while others are generalist contractors who constitute the core of the partnership and can provide services across a range of disciplines.

The newly-created partnership will cover Network Rail’s Control Period 7. This started on April 1, 2024 and will end on March 31, 2029.

During this period, Network Rail is also focusing on measures to deal with the effects of climate change.

Network Rail hopes that the Eastern Routes Partnership supply chain links formed throughout Control Period 7 will be able to continue when Control Period 8 begins in spring 2029.

It is anticipated that in Control Period 7 around £3.5 billion will be invested into the network through the partnership suppliers.

This launch is the culmination of two years of hard work to bring real innovation to our commercial delivery in CP7. The ERP framework is key to effectively maintaining our infrastructure to deliver a sustained improvement in train performance over the next five years.

It’s designed to strengthen our relationships with our supply chain partners, letting us utilise their skills and experience. ERP also lets us take a more collaborative approach by bringing our engineers, delivery teams and the suppliers together, earlier, to identify the minimum viable product. 

Jake Kelly, Managing Director for Eastern Region at Network Rail