Transport for London has selected Telent Technology Services Limited for a £4,454,727 contract to renew telecommunications and data-network infrastructure on the London Overground Windrush line. The award was recorded on 9 November 2026 under Find a Tender notice 106250-2026, covering the design and installation of replacement transmission equipment together with local and wide area network systems.
The published award value excludes VAT; the equivalent inclusive figure is £5,345,672.40. Three tenders were received under a competitive flexible procedure, and the notice gives 23 November 2026 as the scheduled contract-signature date. The work is programmed from 30 November 2026 to 29 November 2029, placing the telecommunications replacement within a three-year delivery period.
Replacing telecommunications infrastructure on an operating railway
Telent's awarded package includes surveys, design development, equipment supply, installation, testing, commissioning and handover. It also covers planning and carrying out the migration from existing telecommunications systems to the replacement network. TfL describes the assets being renewed as ageing and increasingly obsolete, with reliability, resilience and maintainability among the stated aims.
One condition makes the programme particularly relevant to railway construction teams: railway operations must continue throughout the delivery period. The published scope therefore brings migration planning and the testing of interconnected equipment into the contract itself. It does not identify specific possessions, line closures or a station-by-station sequence, so those arrangements cannot yet be treated as agreed construction methods.
The Windrush line links Highbury & Islington with New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon. The infrastructure behind those services extends across a network of stations and junctions, making continuity of communications an important requirement while equipment is replaced. TfL's published works description focuses on telecommunications assets, rather than alterations to tracks or passenger platforms.
Procurement began with 13 potential suppliers
The Windrush transmission project appeared in TfL's procurement pipeline on 21 May 2025. A preliminary market engagement notice followed in August 2025, identifying an intention to appoint a contractor for both design and construction of the existing core transmission system's replacement. The earlier documents described the procurement as urban railway works in London.
TfL used the Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme (RISQS) to identify 13 potential suppliers on 30 June 2025. The relevant qualification areas included transmission systems, fibre and data cabling, lineside telephones and uninterruptible power supplies, alongside principal contractor and principal designer competency requirements. The supplier list was assembled for market engagement, not a statement that all 13 ultimately bid.
An update issued on 17 April 2026 said the procurement process had been delayed and revised the estimated contract period to 2 November 2026 through 1 July 2028. The new award is recorded under a different procurement identifier and sets later dates. The earlier timetable was a forecast attached to market engagement, whereas the November notice sets out the awarded work.
Three-year programme and Telent's existing TfL work
The 9 November notice places the package under telecommunications equipment, ancillary telecommunications works and telephone-exchange installation classifications. It names Telent as the successful supplier, with Alan Dick Communications and Hitachi Rail GTS UK also listed among the tenderers. The award describes a design-and-build telecommunications package to be handed over as an operational network.
Telent has an existing relationship with TfL's communications estate. The company previously announced a separate contract to manage communications assets across London's transport network, giving context to its involvement in railway technology work. That existing agreement is separate from the Windrush line replacement contract and its £4.45m award value.
The delivery period in the new notice runs to 29 November 2029, significantly later than the July 2028 estimate in TfL's April market-engagement update. The next recorded contractual milestone is the planned signature on 23 November 2026, followed by a stated contract start on 30 November. The award notice does not establish that physical installation has begun.