London Underground gets 'Connect-ed'

London Underground (LU) has admitted that its existing network was in dire need of refurbishment to take the train system into the next century.

Chris Best, Project manager at LU justified the new system in an exclusive interview with Silicon.com by promising it will provide LU with the opportunity to generate new revenue streams.

"We will be able to improve safety and improve the flow of communications between our operational staff" Best said. "And to improve our ability to recover from and manage incidents, delays, anything effecting the train and station services".

LU will remove its existing communications architecture and install a radio and digital transmission system. Called Connect, the system will link together all stations, depots and business premises for the entire tube network. This will be the first time the LU network will have a single radio system covering every aspect of operations and engineering.

Extra revenue will be generated by selling off spare capacity and use it for commercial purposes and from a new form of advertising. This will be Projection advertising, which will see the projection of images onto the walls of the tunnels in the stations.

Best also commented on the use of mobile phones on the network. "I have very high hopes for the use of mobiles on the London Underground," he said.

The 20-year service contract, worth £1.2bn, was awarded to the CityLink Telecommunications consortium last month. The consortium is headed up by Racal Services and includes Flour International and Motorola.

You can see the full interview with Chris Best in the Travel & Transport Channel (http://www.silicon.com/34616 ).