Infrastructure Monitoring – Overhead Line Equipment on In-Service Vehicles (Dynamic OLE Data)

Service Scope

Network Rail (NR) is issuing a Tender Notice for acquiring services related to Monitoring of the Overhead Line Equipment (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 understand whether they can meet NRs requirements. Please be aware NR reserves the right to issue updated versions of this document to Participants as and when the need arises, in order to reflect the current stage of the Competitive Flexible Procedure, together with any changes to the Procurement or any new information.

The requirement will be met through a single stage competitive flexible procedure, comprising multiple parallel contracts across two lots. The scope covers roof mounted OLE monitoring and forward facing video systems, including supply, installation, operation, maintenance and secure data provision, with requirements fixed at contract acceptance and future innovation addressed separately.

The Specification of Requirement documents are available in Network Rail’s Bravo Platform.

The routes under consideration for OLE In-service monitoring are (but not limited to):

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

Competitive Flexible Procedure

Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) to shortlist up to five suppliers per lot (or six where the 6th ranked supplier is within 2% of the 5th ranked score).

Single‑stage ITT (including eAuction), with award of up to three contracts in each lot.

Deployment across fleets will be commissioned incrementally through in contract RFQs

No. Lots & Suppliers

Lot 1—Roof‑Mounted OLE systems - instrumented pantograph and roof mounted video/measurement solutions and related analytics

Lot 2—Forward‑Facing Video OLE Monitoring - FFV and related analytics

The contract term will be four years, with a break clause exercisable after the third anniversary of the start date.

Network Rail reserves the right, acting reasonably and in good faith, to amend, update and/or refine any applicable documentation associated with this procurement exercise.