Coup de Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) in the United Kingdom, where it was selected (along with three other companies) to modernize the signaling systems of the country's entire railway network within a massive framework contract worth £4,000 million (€4,677 million). In statements to DV, Beasaindarra emphasized that the award “is a milestone” for the company and, moreover, in a sector such as signals, in which CAF wants to grow.
Official sources in the group said: “It is very important for us,” stressing that the agreement guarantees the workload for the next ten years, from 2024 to 2034. “We do not know how much, but we know it in that period.” The same sources added: “They will turn to us and the rest of the selected people to digitize and raise their signaling system to the most advanced levels.”
Network Rail, which manages the infrastructure on which British trains run (Adif in the UK), this week announced the two companies winning the two lots the contract was split between, one worth 1,000 million and the other worth 3,000. In addition to CAF (which entered The tender is in a consortium with the local company AtkinsRéalis), there are Alstom, Siemens, Hitachi and Thales-VolkerRail.
Beasain will participate in the second batch, related to digital signaling and the use of the European Railway Control System (ERTMS), with a joint budget of 3,000 million pounds sterling (3,508 million euros), to be distributed to all winning companies without a predetermined percentage. Payment 1 focuses the rest of the budget and refers to less complex signage work.
The works included in these contracts will be implemented over the next ten years, during which the British government hopes to make a radical change in the railway sector, with the introduction of more modern equipment that provides greater efficiency for railway services.
The Basque company's signaling company (CAF Signalling) is already present in the UK, especially in equipment for various safety systems ERTMS (European Railway Traffic Management System) in trains. It must be remembered that signaling is precisely one of the sectors in which Beasaindarra wants to put the rest, because it allows it to look forward to more complex contracts that include these tasks alongside the manufacture of trains (which give a certain independence from third parties) and at the same time offer higher margins.
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