Systems, engineering and technology consultancy, Frazer-Nash, is helping the East West Railway Company develop an enterprise architecture for the new East West Rail link that will connect communities between Oxford to Cambridge.
The new rail route will provide opportunities for people across the area by making it easier and cheaper to get around, avoiding the need for longer journeys via London. It involves repurposing old railways and constructing new routes to connect communities across the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, including Bedford, Milton Keynes and Bicester.
Frazer-Nash Principal Consultant, Adrian Thorne, who is leading the work, describes how the enterprise architecture will help East West Rail:
“Architecting a railway is, of course, incredibly complex! The East West Railway Company needs a way to link their technical design to their overarching strategic vision. By developing an enterprise architecture for the company we’ll be pulling together all these elements into a cohesive structure, helping the East West Railway Company identify their capabilities and how these will enable the outcomes they need to realise their innovative goals.
“By combining our enterprise architecture expertise with model-based systems engineering techniques, we’ll deliver a visual representation of the East West Railway Enterprise, helping to increase understanding of the interrelationships and integration between their outcomes, capabilities and systems.
“East West Rail is a ground-breaking project, and requires a novel approach, so we’re using enterprise architecture and MBSE* in an agile way, building the architecture in sprints. We’re really looking forward to working with the East West Railway Company again, and helping them in their aim to make the railway a better experience for all their stakeholders – not only for their customers, but also for their neighbours and the local environment.”
*Model-based systems engineering
