Credit: Dreamstime
NEC Australia has won an $8-million dollar contract to secure Sydney Trains network’s control system over the next five years.
The Japan-headquartered technology company is tasked with providing “an improved level of security” to the agency’s Advanced Train Running Information Control System (ATRICS).
The agency, which falls under Transport for NSW, told ARN it chose NEC following a “rigorous selection” process to find a “non-invasive solution” for its network security.
“Sydney Trains has awarded NEC a contract to provide an improved level of IT security for our ATRICS,” a Sydney Trains spokesperson said. “This system is used by Train Controllers to manage train operations across the Sydney Trains network.”
The spokesperson added that the new contract, which runs from May 2019 until April 2024, includes hardware, software and services.
The win follows a changing of the guard within NEC’s local leadership with managing director Mike Barber exiting the firm at the end of March.
He was subsequently replaced with MD for Australia and New Zealand Mitsuhiro Murooka as the company attempted to cement a closer alignment with Japan.
The company was recently awarded two contracts totalling $23 million to improve connectivity for the Western Australia public health system as well as a deal with Melbourne firm Genix Ventures to trial its facial recognition software in exam fraud.
The company was at the centre of a storm after the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) terminated its Biometric Identification Services (BIS) project with NEC Australia after it was hit by delays last year.
A later investigation by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) found that the total expenditure on the project was $34 million and none of the project’s milestones or deliverables were met.
At the same time, NEC argued it was not the systems integrator but the contractor in the BIS project. At the time, the company commented: "NEC has delivered many similar projects around the world successfully, often for Government and in most cases as Project Lead/Systems Integrator.
“In this project however, NEC was not the systems integrator, but the contractor. NEC was ready to hand over the BIS project for systems testing when the project was terminated."
