NPX awarded contract for Historical Railway Estate

NPX, a joint venture between Network Plus and XEIAD, has been successfully awarded a 10-year framework with Highways England for the Historical Railways Estate Examination contract.

Starting April 2021, NPX will commence works in the East Region covering sites from Durham and Yorkshire, through to East and West Midlands. NPX will deliver asset examination services on a cyclical basis to hundreds of disused rail bridges and tunnels that form part of the Historical Railway Estate.

On behalf of the Department for Transport, Highways England are responsible for this fascinating estate  which includes circa 3,800 assets and 74 listed structures.

The contract scope will see NPX programme, plan and deliver nearly six hundred visual and detailed structures examinations annually. Work activities also provide asset monitoring services for at-risk structures and a 24/7 response for bridge strikes and emergency incidents. Environmental components of the scope of works will see NPX delivering ecology studies to safeguard bats and other protected species, maintaining gates, fences and access points, and clearing vegetation and debris to facilitate examinations.

Paul Capener of NPX said, “We’ll utilise our decades of asset management experience on historical structures. The integration of a smart, digitally focused service will enhance safety, quality and efficiency of delivery.”

“Our competent and experienced Engineers and Examiners are ready for deployment. They’ll be fully supported by specialist access teams providing safety boats, pontoons, rope access, confined space, diving and MEWPs. Our in-house Traffic Management team will provide support for all public highway operations We look forward to working closely with Highways England over the next 10 years.”

NPX is known for innovation. Through digital technology, we’ll deliver this contract with smart data objectives.  The outputs from our data capture will cut reporting times, reduce examination costs and inform Highways England’s asset management strategies.