Engineering Stage 5 (ES5) and Enabling Works for upgrade to Witton and Aston Rail Stations

Prototypes Development; Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights; Single Suppliers Technical Reasons; Additional Repeat Extension Partial Replacement

Additional or repeat goods, services or works

Previous ES3 and ES4 development work was awarded to Network Rail Infrastructure Limited under Direct Award Reports RFQ-WMRE-WPG-2025-0001 and MOD-RAIL-WPG-2026-0001. This DAR sets out the award to Network Rail for the next stage of work under ES5. ES5 represents the continuation and further development of the engineering design, surveys, technical assurance and project knowledge established through ES3 and ES4, providing continuity between design stages and avoiding unnecessary duplication or rework.

Prototypes and Development

This DAR relates to development of upgrades to existing rail stations at Witton and Aston and the work is reliant on NR to develop, assure and integrate the proposed designs with the existing operational railway, including determining compliance with applicable railway standards, asset requirements, safety processes and operational constraints. Network Rail's involvement is therefore integral to progressing the designs to the level of maturity required for subsequent delivery.

Single Supplier - intellectual property or other exclusive rights and there are no reasonable alternatives

As Network Rail owns the land and railway assets affected by the proposed works, they are best placed to manage the design and enabling solutions required for significant alterations to those assets and to manage the associated engineering, operational and safety risks. The proposed works cannot be developed independently of Network Rail's asset requirements, technical approvals and access arrangements. The owner of the land has a right to determine which supplier can deliver works on that land.

Single Supplier - absence of competition for technical reasons and there are no reasonable alternatives

As NR own the land and assets, they have the required capability to ensure that any works carried out are interoperable with existing assets, manage interfaces with new or altered infrastructure, manage permits and access to the operational railway and secure any required possessions. Use of an alternative supplier would require these matters to remain subject to Network Rail review, assurance and approval, introducing additional technical and organisational interfaces, with associated programme and delivery risk.