The history of railways in Great Britain

Signalling


Interior of a modern signalling control centre

Famous names in early railway signalling such as Saxby & Farmer and Mackenzie & Holland are no longer with us, nevertheless Britain has a vigorous, succesful and innovative signalling industry with a continuous history dating back to the 19th Century.

Saxby & Farmer became part of the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company. More recently, the signalling arm of that company became part of Invensys Rail. In late 2012, the UK based company was sold to the German group Siemens.

In the 1920s the American company General Railway Signal set up a UK subsidiary, Metropolitan Vickers-GRS. This later became AEI-GRS and is now part of Alstom Signalling.

Bombardier Transportation is a relative newcomer to the British scene, drawing largely on the experience of its continental subsidiaries but now with an established presence in this country.

Research

British Rail Research was always recognized as a world leader in cutting edge railway technology. Privatization has led to a proliferation of small consultancy firms retaining and building upon much of the former expertise. Many of these are now based in Derby, the former home of the Railway Technical Centre, headquarters of British Rail Research.