HS2 Signs £99.6m Passenger Telecoms Deal for New UK Rail Network UPDATE
High Speed 2 Ltd, which is a non-departmental public body that is wholly funded by the UK Government’s Department for Transport (DfT) and oversees the HS2 rail project, has signed a £99.6m deal (£80.5m in public funding) with Hitachi and Telent to design and deploy telecommunications services across the new rail network, including passenger voice and broadband connectivity.
The contract itself, which is expected to run for thirteen and a half years, will see Hitachi and Telent (Joint Venture) become “responsible for the design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning” of a range of telecommunications platforms (Ethernet, WiFi, ESN and mobile cellular etc.), before later acting as the “interim operator” until the works can be handed over to a “long-term operating partner“.
The deal is focused on the operational needs of HS2 but will also cover “passenger communication systems“, which includes infrastructure that can be used to support the provision of “voice and data mobile communications” (4G, 5G etc.) for HS2 “users in stations and on the trains“. This includes adding full support for the 4G based Emergency Services Network (ESN).
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This is of course subject to Hitachi and Telent being able to reach commercial agreements with the UK’s primary mobile operators, such as EE, O2, Three UK and Vodafone (although Voda and Three will be one entity by the time this all comes to pass). More info. can be found on Public Technology‘s page.
UPDATE 18th Feb 2025
We’ve added the official contract description below for context.
Description of the procurement
Third-Party Telecommunications Systems are to be procured as a single package, with two contracts, formed of Design & Build and Interim Operator elements.
The Third-Party Telecommunications Contractor will be responsible for the design, supply, installation, testing & commissioning and interim operation of the Third-Party Telecommunication systems, this includes:
Passenger communication systems: Radio Access Network infrastructure to support the provision of voice and data mobile communications for HS2 users in stations and on the trains throughout the HS2 estate. This will require engagement and management of commercial arrangements with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs);
Emergency Services Network: (ESN) (tunnels and stations): Radio Access Network infrastructure to support coverage in stations, tunnels, depots and line of route to facilitate mobile communications for emergency response operations. This will include engagement and management of commercial arrangements with the ESN radio access network provider, on behalf of HS2 and or/ the Home Office;
Station Data Network (SDN): fixed and mobile communications including Distributed Antenna System (DAS) communication network to support both operational and public connectivity within all HS2 stations. This will include transmission services (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, ESN and mobile cellular) to station operational systems, retail systems, customer information, customer communication and business systems; and
Interim operations: during trial operations, a separate contract will be awarded to the Third Party Telecommunications Contractor (Interim Operator) to operate and maintain the Third Party Telecommunication systems including provision of MNO, ESN and SDN services during trial operations.
The Contracts
Design & Build Contract: A contract for the design and build based on the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (April 2013) Pricing Option C (Target Price with an Activity Schedule), will be used with suitable HS2 Ltd amendments and choice of optional X and Z clauses.
Interim Operator Contract: A contract for maintenance and interim operational services based on the NEC3 Term Service Contract (April 2013) Pricing Option A (Priced Contract with price list) with suitable HS2 Ltd amendments including a choice of optional X and Z clauses.
Upon completion the works will be handed over to a long-term Operating Partner. The Operating Partner will operate and maintain the systems and to provide MNO, ESN and SDN services by the start of full HS2 passenger services. The Operating Partner contract is out of scope of this procurement.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Its a good to see they’re actually planning this as part of the build instead of being an afterthought.
I fully support this and HS2, I just wish it was also going to Manchester.
We should have revised the laws to match Japan’s/China’s, where they don’t have issues around rail building. Then we should have had them help us build it via technology transfers.
The UK really needs DOGE desperately to cut all this pointless waste
What are you considering “pointless waste” here?
In fairness;
Why should this cost £100Mn for us to install some masts and fibre down a track, I expect HS2 will have already installed the duct by this stage, so this is literally stringing fibre through a brand new duct.
why is the org installing masts/fibre getting paid at all, shouldn’t they be paying HS2 for the wayleave and then making money selling space/fibre/5G to mobile operators/Telcos etc?
@Iago, HS2 for s a start.
#John
As a retired public servant, I can tell you that Elon Musk is way behind the curve, as regards eliminating “Useless waste”.
Because of the economic circumstances in which UK emerged from WW2, rationing until 1954, war debt not paid off until Gordon Brown was Chancellor, the UK has been doing DOGE in one form or another since that time, though outsiders won’t appreciate that.
USA is only just entering its period of “Managed decline”, as the effects of the measure to maintain its prior economic World supremacy, the reckless financial expansion of 1998 to 200, have just about played-out now.
Remembering that in institutions like the NHS, admin costs have been traditionally 6% of total budget, whereas in the states, where private medical care predominates, as does the “Blizzard” of invoicing paperwork, the same metric has consistently been 10-15% post war.
Of course, no body would dare to suggest that sales reps travelling by means of “Always an Audi”, is a useless waste, of foreign currency in particular, whereas in the 1980s it would have been a Mondeo, or a Cortina. Where are Messrs CEO and the tame team of management consultants doing in the commercial corporate sector, fluff all, apart from turning a blind-un. Certainly, no “Turning down the wick until the oil lamp flame gutters and then turning it back a quarter of a turn”. Every Little Inc helps.
Back on topic, why so late in letting this contract ?
Right off topic, if any of the Captains of Industry on here are interested, I’ve just learned, courtesy of a You Tube Vid, that Amazon will be withdrawing the right of content owners to download Kindle content after 26th February. So if any of the “Entitlement Waxed” Audi drivers out there are doing a bit of Kindle reading in-between stops (Oh No, think of the risk of distraction), the next week is the time to get it all downloaded, else once out of wi-fi/mobile range, it will be no-go.