Railway Test Track
Old Dalby is the location of the control centre of the former British Rail Research Division's railway test track, which runs between Melton Mowbray and Edwalton and which was universally known in the industry as simply 'Old Dalby'. Following privatisation of the UK railways, the test track was taken over by Alstom and electrified on the 25kV overhead system in order to test the Virgin Trains tilting Pendolino fleet. During this upgrade phase, which began in 2000, the centre of operations moved from Old Dalby to Asfordby (on the outskirts of Melton Mowbray) where a depot was converted from the former National Coal Board's buildings. However, with the demise of Alstom as a train builder in the UK, the future of the test track looked bleak and there was a real possibility that it might have been closed.
On 12 February 2007, Metronet, the consortium charged with renewing a large proportion of the London Underground's lines, announced that they had taken over the test track for the testing of new tube trains. To accomplish this they will electrify part of the line on the third and fourth rail system but the original 25kV line will also be retained for future use.
On 7 June 2007, Metronet announced that the contract for operating and maintaining the test track had been awarded to Serco Assurance (formerly Serco Railtest), based at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby.
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