Scope
Description
Service Scope
Network Rail (NR) plans to issue a tender notice this year for acquiring services related to Monitoring of the OLE in Great Britain. The procurement scope includes designing, building, operating, and maintaining specialised sensor technologies for capturing, processing, storing, and transmitting output data. Separate from the core fleet requirements, OLE monitoring has been identified as an area where it is most effective to gather data from in-service passenger trains, with successful trials having been undertaken. The primary benefit of this approach is the frequency of data collection, which can provide alerts for emerging defects, allowing a quick response to prevent dewirements and the associated significant train service disruption.
New Technology and Innovation
Network Rail is agnostic to the method of data collection, and is keen to promote new technology and innovation. For this dynamic OLE project, the solutions provided to meets the requirements must be a demonstrably proven solution.
Scope and Specification Documents
Technical Requirements Specification are available in Network Rail's Bravo Platform to help the market prepare for the upcoming Tender. Please be aware that these documents are still in draft form and may undergo revisions before Network Rail issues them following the publication of the Tender Notice.
Please note that the requirement will be fulfilled through a single contract award per lot. We are currently finalising the lotting strategy, and while each lot will be awarded to a single lead supplier, this does not mean that all delivery must be carried out by one organisation alone. Suppliers are encouraged to propose integrated delivery models that may include multiple technologies or partners, provided these are managed under a single contractual arrangement per lot.
The documents shall be released through Network Rail's Bravo platform, details on how to access this are on page 7.
The routes under consideration for OLE In-service monitoring are:
Scotrail routes served by class 380s, class 385s and class 334 (class 334 forward-facing visual analytics only)
Suburban and Regional West Midlands electrified routes served by class 730s
OLE fitted London Overground Routes
NorthernRail routes served by class 331 & class 323
GTR routes served by class 700, class 717 & class 379
EMR routes that will be served by class 810s
Crewe to Liverpool
Norwich to Ipswich
The following routes are out of scope and will not be tendered for in CP7:
All Wales and Western routes
West Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
All lines currently served by West Midlands Trains Class 350
All lines currently served by Greater Anglia Class 720
All lines currently served by C2C Class 357
All lines currently served by East Midlands Trains Class 360
Total value (estimated)
- £12,000,000 excluding VAT
- £14,400,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 31 March 2026 to 30 March 2029
- Possible extension to 31 March 2031
- 5 years, 1 day
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 72300000 - Data services
Engagement
Engagement deadline
19 September 2025
Engagement process description
Responding to this Notice
Responding to this Notice is an excellent opportunity to engage, share relevant information and provide feedback. Should you wish to respond to this Notice please follow the instructions below:
Accessing the documents:
Follow the link: https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html
From the welcome screen, access the "View Current Opportunities" link and select "Infrastructure Monitoring - Overhead Line Equipment on In-Service Vehicles (Dynamic OLE Data)". Login is not required.
The released documents will be at the bottom of the page in the attachments section.
Once you have reviewed all the documents, please complete the market engagement questionnaire.
The response deadline for this questionnaire (https://forms.office.com/e/A2gbmwrshj) is the 19th September 2025.
Any questions or clarifications in respect of this notice, should only be addressed to james.akinwale@networkrail.co.uk.
Participation
Particular suitability
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
- Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)
Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
13 October 2025
Procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Contracting authority
NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PNZN-9524-VCQJ
Waterloo General Office
London
SE1 8SW
United Kingdom
Email: james.akinwale@networkrail.co.uk
Website: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/
Region: UKI45 - Lambeth
Organisation type: Public authority - central government