Highways Agency

The National Roads Telecommunications Services Project (NRTS)

A Guide to NRTS

View this page as a PDF (330KB PDF)

Background to the NRTS project

The Highways Agency (the Agency) currently manages and maintains a communications network alongside the majority of England's motorways. A mixture of optical fibre and copper cables transmit voice and data signals from the many thousands of roadside devices. These include: emergency telephones, CCTV cameras and variable message signs, which are connected to the 32 Police Control Offices serving the nation's motorways. The existing communications network has evolved over the past 40 years in a "piecemeal" fashion to keep pace with the expanding motorway system. In some areas, the cables need to be replaced and, generally, there is little spare capacity for expansion.

The Agency is committed to developing its communications network to enable the use of new technology that will make

It is against this background that the National Roads Telecommunications Services (NRTS) project has been conceived.

NRTS will establish a single national approach to the future of the communications network on England's motorway and trunk network.

This diagram shows the existing fibre-optic cabling network and the location of the Police Control Offices.

How Roadside Devices and Control Centres are connected through NRTS

What is the NRTS project?

The NRTS project will provide a service that will carry data from roadside devices to traffic control centres. It will initially make use of the existing communication network and it will also enable it to be upgraded and expanded in order to provide a nationwide network capable of supporting our future needs.

The Agency evaluated the options and decided that the best value for money would be achieved through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract. In January 2003, a number of private consortia were invited to submit their proposals. It is expected that a contract will be awarded in Autumn 2004. The successful consortium will become the National Roads Telecommunications Services Contractor (NRTS Co). It is anticipated that they will begin to provide the service by mid 2005.

NRTS Co will have responsibility for the national telecommunications network and will also be responsible for:

• providing a resilient and reliable service and
• monitoring the performance of telecommunications services

However, all roadside devices will remain the responsibility of the Agency.

The Agency will appoint a contract manager, supported by a team of technical specialists, to manage the NRTS contract. The contract manager will be the primary contact between the Agency and NRTS Co, and will be responsible for ordering additional services when required.

The PPP contract will ensure that the supply of new services and any renewal of the existing core communications network will be covered by a monthly service charge. Connections from roadside devices into the communications network will be ordered and paid for as and when they are required. Deductions will be made from the monthly service charge when the defined level of service is not met.

What NRTS Co will provide

NRTS Co will provide a "one stop shop" for the Agency's operational telecommunications needs. NRTS Co will be required to:

• provide telecommunications services on a national basis
• co-ordinate and manage the planning of telecommunications services
• maintain existing and future telecommunications services
• upgrade and extend telecommunications services to enable the Agency to expand the network
• develop new types of services required by new initiatives such as Active Traffic Management
• facilitate and manage any commercial third party opportunities, for example, generating revenue by using spare capacity in the fibre optic cable network
• provide web based information
• provide an aerial site service
• provide a camera mast service, if required by the Agency
• provide design and consultancy services

The NRTS Co contract

The NRTS contract will be for a minimum of ten years and will comprise the following services:

Transmission services

NRTS Co will operate and maintain connections between roadside devices and control centres. Each individual connection is termed a Service Type Instance (STI). There are several types of STI that can be selected depending on the type of device to be connected. For example, one will connect an existing emergency roadside telephone to the appropriate control centre, whilst another might connect future monitoring devices using internet protocol.

NRTS Co will initially assume responsibility for approximately 12,000 existing STIs. NRTS will also be responsible for future STIs provided under the terms of the contract. The Agency will be able to instruct NRTS Co to design, install and activate new STIs and also to deactivate or remove redundant STIs.

NRTS Co will continuously monitor the performance of the service and provide the Agency with appropriate records.

NRTS Co will be allowed to generate commercial revenues to be shared with the Agency under the terms of the contract. It may do this by:

• leasing spare transmission capacity
• offering fully managed transmission services to third parties

Aerial site service

The Agency has been approached by mobile network operators seeking permission to construct mobile phone masts on Agency land. As a part of their contract, NRTS Co will deal with these enquiries on behalf of the Agency. They will provide commercial site development services in this regard which will include:

• site design
• site planning
• obtaining the necessary approvals for the new aerial

Optional camera mast service

NRTS Co may be required to provide future needs and maintain all existing camera masts (approximately 700) and their associated infrastructure. If new masts are required, the Agency will instruct NRTS Co to design the mast and infrastructure and then to build and maintain them.

The camera mast service is optional and will only be developed if it offers value for money.

NRTS - enabling future technology

NRTS Co will facilitate the Agency's move towards digitial communications. It will also support the wider introduction of Active Traffic Management to make better use of exisiting road space.

Digital technology is more reliable, flexible and manageable than previous generations of telecommunication technology. As an example, its introduction will greatly enhance the new Regional Control Centres. This will allow nationwide distribution of CCTV pictures between these control centres without affecting picture quality. This capability will also enable the wider use of the Video Information Highway and will allow CCTV images to be shared with interested third parties. These include: travel information providers, local authorities and other Agency stakeholders.

Consultancy service

On request from the Agency, NRTS Co will be required to provide consultancy services related to telecommunications which are not included in the delivery of any of the other NRTS services. These may include:

• compliance testing of devices
• research and development support
• development of industry standards and codes of practice

NRTS management systems

In addition to the services already described, the Agency will require NRTS Co to develop, install, operate, maintain and update a number of management systems. These systems will record:

• details and conditions of the Agency's telecommunications assets
• faults and service performance data on the network
• issue and control of Agency approved standards
• future programming of technology
• numbers and locations of all telecommunication equipment
• maintenance schedules

NRTS Co will also establish a website to provide access to NRTS documentation, systems and records.

The future

The NRTS project will allow the Agency to realise the development of a national, high-speed telecommunications network. In time, much of the traffic information and the data currently collected by detectors in the road surface and delivered by message signs will be provided more effectively to drivers using "in-car" technology.

NRTS will play a vital role in promoting these and other Intelligent Transport systems, leading to safe roads, reliable journeys and informed travellers.

For further information, you should contact:

The Highways Agency,
NRTS Delivery Team
Temple Quay House,
2 The Square,
Temple Quay,
Bristol
BS1 6HA

Email: Nrts_delivery_team@highways.gsi.gov.uk