The challenge
Network Rail owns, operates and develops Britain’s railway infrastructure. That’s 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts, thousands of signals, level crossings and 20 of the UK’s largest train stations.
To maintain the nation’s rail infrastructure, projects frequently work on and around the tracks, often needing to gain access via neighbouring properties, change heritage buildings or operate within an urban environment. There are hundreds of infrastructure projects each year.
There wasn’t a central resource for project managers to seek advice from relevant areas of expertise, or to validate if access had previously been sought or granted. This critical advice can make all the difference to an effective property strategy. The current ways of working relied on spreadsheets and correspondence by email and telephone.
One solutions to meet all aspirations
They needed a central place to record information, to bring consistency and enable audit trails. It was crucial to prevent delays caused where projects require access to the track via another property, but this was not clear until arriving on site, meaning that all the necessary permissions, fees and closures were not in place. They worked with two developers from Netcall to develop a new bespoke application using Liberty Create, our low-code platform.
“Using Liberty Create to develop the tool enables us to prove the benefits of the tool without large up-front expenditure. This rapid development also allows the tool to be enhanced and improved rapidly based on user feedback. The ability to secure land and consents advice in a consistent way during the early stages of railway projects enables the formulation of cost-effective property strategies, immediately preventing costly oversights and delays, plus retaining this information helps to inform future works and identify opportunities to reduce the costs of land access.”
Mark McMonagle
Business Systems Development Manager, Network Rail