Margaret Beckett MP  officially started construction of Network Rail’s new East Midlands Control Centre on 24 November 2006.

The £15 million investment by Network Rail will transform a derelict brown-field site in Derby into a state-of-the-art control centre to control the signalling and operations for the entire East Midlands rail network. The East Midlands Control Centre (EMCC) will be the first its kind in the UK to be built to a modular design which enables Network Rail to provide high quality facilities at an efficient cost.  The EMCC will be the forerunner to similar control centres around the country including Cardiff and Glasgow.  Built to the latest environmental standards, the EMCC will be Network Rail’s greenest ever building, incorporating solar water heating to reduce carbon emissions and rainwater harvesting which will save 1 million litres of water every year. 

The EMCC is a key part of Network Rail’s £250 million investment to renew the signalling in the East Midlands over the next 6 years.  The first phase of the signalling between Leicester and Nuneaton is already complete and will be followed by further schemes at Chesterfield, Clay Cross, Alfreton, Langley Mill and Nottingham.  As work to renew the signalling at each phase is complete, operations will transfer into the EMCC at Derby.  The EMCC will eventually control over 350 route miles of railway across the East Midlands and employ 240 staff.

Tom Birch, Network Rail’s General Manager for the East Midlands said:” The East Midlands Control Centre and the major investment Network Rail is making to renew the signalling in the region is a measure of our commitment to providing a world class railway.  The new signalling will reduce delays for passengers and bring long term benefits to the region by providing a better rail network.”

Notes
* The East Midlands Control Centre (EMCC), to be built in Derby has been designed to meet the latest building regulations and environmental standards with a view to reducing carbon emissions and saving energy
* The EMCC will have the benefit of solar water heating to reduce the amount of fossil fuel used to generate hot water, reducing CO2 emissions by over 1.2 tonnes per year
* The building environment will be monitored and controlled by an advanced computerised building management system to constantly monitor and adjust all aspects of the building environment to ensure maximum energy efficiency
* The EMCC will have a rainwater harvesting system that will collect rainwater, this rainwater is to be used for WC and Urinal flushing with a projected saving of approximately 1,000,000 litres of water every year
* The main phases of the East Midlands Signalling Project include: * East Midlands Control Centre (EMCC): Construction of the EMCC at Bateman Street in Derby starts at the beginning of December 2006 and will open in Autumn 2007. The centre will eventually control all signalling operations throughout the East Midlands. * North Erewash (Trowell, Alfreton, Langley Mill, Chesterfield): New junctions will be built at Trowell and Ironville and several signal boxes will be abolished as signalling operations move into the EMCC. Work will be completed by Spring 2008. * South Erewash (Trowell, Toton, Trent Junction, Loughborough, Long Eaton, Beeston): The first phase between Trowell and Toton will be completed towards the end of 2008 while the Toton to Loughborough and Long Eaton to Beeston sections will be completed by the end of 2009. * Work at Nottingham Station starts in 2010 and will include new signalling for the Robin Hood Line, the complete re-signalling of the station area and improvements to the track layout. The project is expected to be completed by 2012. * Post 2013: projects to renew the signalling in the rest of the East Midlands route including Leicester, Derby, West Hampstead and the routes from Nottingham to Newark Castle, Grantham and Peterborough. * The East Midlands Control Centre (EMCC) and the East Midlands Re-Signalling Project are being delivered by Network Rail’s Major Projects and Investments team.