DB Cargo UK completes ETCS upgrade to 66070

66070 is the first to be fitted with the new in-cab signalling system at Toton Traction Maintenance Depot under a wider contract awarded to the company last year by Network Rail.

The work is part of the National Freight ETCS Programme, a critical component of the £1.4 billion East Coast Digital Programme.

The upgrade has been made to allow future travel on the East Coast Main Line which is seeing traditional lineside signals being replaced with modernised digital signalling. 

The new control system will continuously communicate with every train, providing real-time signalling information directly to a computer screen in the driver’s cab.

The eight-month fitment saw the Toton team install hundreds of new components, and the locomotive will now undergo Siemens testing before becoming operational later this year.

DB Cargo UK’s Third Party Manager James Bodill, who is leading the fitment work at Toton, said:

“DB Cargo UK is central to the delivery of the UK’s digital railway. Our locomotives and colleagues will play a critical role in the successful operation of digital signalling on one of the country’s most important rail routes.

“The fitment of 66070 is a major step in this journey and I’m extremely pleased to say that the team has done an outstanding job on this locomotive and will be aiming to do the same on the next locomotive in the fitment programme.”

The team will now begin work on the next vehicle in the fitment schedule (66003) in the coming days.