Engineering-related scientific and technical services

Tender description

Network Rail plans to carry out field testing of fibre optical acoustic sensing (FOAS), internet of things (IoT) sensors and smart cameras along the railway trackside to provide ‘real-time’ data for exploiting artificial intelligence (AI), big-data, data analytics, etc. techniques for addressing railway remote condition monitoring (RCM) challenges to support efficient, reliable and safe rail operations. Network Rail will be inviting applicants to participate in a design contest by submitting a design or plan which addresses all of the following challenge statements: 1) Train movement and position reporting 2) Rail and wheel defects identification 3) Level-crossing safety management 4) Trespass and trackside presence detection. Following the completion of design contest, Network Rail will select design contest winners, these winners will be invited to participate in a phase of negotiations with Network Rail which if successful may result in the award of a service contract for the trials. Under this design contest and subsequent services agreement, Network Rail may allow additional nominated organisations to have access to the outputs from the trial. For further guidance on how to complete a design submission and participate in the design contest, candidates should access the following link: https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=47694 Please refer to the Network Rail criteria and scoring document and the instructions to participants document for information on selection criteria.