A five year contract with Network Rail (NR), the owner and operator of the United Kingdom’s railways, to supply the new Sentinel card service, has gone to MITIE, the FTSE 250 outsourced services firm.
Under the current industry-wide Sentinel scheme, all the 90,000 employees and contractors who work ‘trackside’ on or near NR’s tracks must carry a valid card for inspection. That card verifies the identity and skills of the card-holder by reading information from the card or calling an automated phone line.
NR chose MITIE and its partner Reference Point to develop and deliver a new service with smart cards to replace the basic laminated cards. The contractor says that the new, real-time, automated service will deliver:
reduced site registration times using smart technology
a card life of up to five years
100uthentication of ID and skills
protection for lone workers
a live register of the people and skills on site
a way for the industry to manage fatigue
opportunities to improve and streamline frontline processes
MITIE’s Total Security Management business secured the contract with Reference Point based upon the MiTec technology centre to act as a 24/7 hub.
The new Sentinel service will be introduced from June 2013.
Gareth Llewellyn, Director, Safety and Sustainable Development at Network Rail said: “Sentinel is the passport for working on our network safely. Technology has moved on apace since we introduced Sentinel originally in 1999 and the opportunity to take advantage of smartcard and smartphone technology will take Sentinel to the next level and also provide us with benefits that we haven’t seen before.”
And Darren Gamage, Technology Services Director, MITIE Total Security Management, said: “This is such an exciting opportunity. New Sentinel will be the most advanced system of its kind in the UK. Using current technology along with some re-engineered business processes will greatly improve Network Rail and their supply chain partners’ ability to manage the ‘authority to work’ of staff, as well as delivering some real efficiency and safety benefits. We’re delighted to be working on this high-profile project that we hope will become a global benchmark for comparable industries.”
Tanya Morris, Director, Reference Point, added: “This new system will deliver a simpler and smarter way for Network Rail to provide a safer environment for its trackside workers whilst cutting costs overall for the industry.”
