Marconi wins Railtrack contract

FALLEN telecoms equipment group Marconi has received a boost after booking more work from the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line. Marconi has been awarded a £19m deal by Railtrack and engineering firm Alstom to maintain its advanced communications network on the line. The group's transportation arm is building a new communications system for the upgrade under an existing £75m contract won two years ago.

The system will play a key role in allowing Virgin's high-speed trains to use the London to Glasgow route by sending drivers warnings of signal settings. Today's additional three-year maintenance deal will kick-in once the network is completed in 2005.

Peter Felton, Marconi Transportation's business development director, said the deal reflected the group's growing presence in network support. He added: 'It is vitally important that the communication network is kept in prime operating condition and we look forward to delivering this.'

Marconi is due to report its full-year results next Thursday when it is set to reveal further details of its restructuring plans.

Last month, the group ring-fenced £850m for distribution to banks and bondholders as part of its recovery drive.

Chief executive Mike Parton said at the time that the company saw no sign of an improvement in spending by customers throughout the year to March 2003.