AECOM has been contracted to undertake the detailed design stage for the Mid Cornwall Metro project in the UK.
This follows the company’s completion of the initial engineering design work for the project, alongside the business plan for the scheme.
The Mid Cornwall Metro project is led by Cornwall Council, Network Rail and Great Western Railway. It aims to create a sustainable transport corridor between the county’s north and south coasts. This will improve connections between four of Cornwall’s largest urban areas: Newquay, St Austell, Truro and Falmouth/Penryn.
To complete this work, Cornwall Council Cabinet members provisionally agreed to accept 50 million GBP in Levelling Up Funding towards the delivery of the 56.8 million GBP Mid Cornwall Metro initiative.
“It’s fantastic news that we’re able to significantly progress Mid Cornwall Metro. The scheme will be transformative for the local community by improving access to jobs, education and amenities through improved transportation and mobility connections. It will offer a more sustainable alternative to car use, with wider scheme initiatives such as station improvements and ticket digitalisation delivering a better user experience for passengers.”
Specifically, AECOM will deliver work on the Newquay branch line, which covers the main scope of work.
This line is currently a single track, which significantly limits services. AECOM will therefore design a passing loop and additional line into Newquay Station. It will also work to upgrade associated station infrastructure, platform and signalling and will incorporate environmental enhancements.
AECOM has been appointed as the engineering lead for this scheme. The company will coordinate work associated with track, civils, signalling, environmental, electrical and plant, and fire safety systems.
This scheme is being delivered through the South Rail Systems Alliance (SRSA), which is a 10-year Framework awarded in 2019 between Network Rail, Colas, and AECOM. The Framework covers the delivery of railway systems renewals across Network Rail Regions in the South of the UK, Western & Wales, Southern and Anglia. Under this scheme, Colas is the designer for the signalling and telecoms.
