Alstom signed an agreement to buy Balfour Beatty’s share of Signaling Solutions Ltd. (SSL), a 50-50 joint-venture between Alstom and Balfour Beatty established in 2007 to provide advanced signaling solutions to the U.K. and Ireland’s rail sectors. Alstom thus becomes the sole owner of SSL.

Since its creation, SSL has expanded rapidly to become one of the major U.K. signaling players in the provision of train control solutions, offering a complete range of services from project design to full delivery. SSL employs 540 people in four main locations.

The acquisition takes Alstom Transport’s workforce in the U.K. and Ireland to 2,500. The company will continue to trade as SSL for the foreseeable future.

In January 2012, SSL was chosen as preferred bidder in the major signaling framework agreement launched by Network Rail, the U.K. rail infrastructure owner. As part of this agreement, SSL is responsible for providing signaling renewals and enhancements as primary supplier in three of eight geographical regions in the country and as the secondary supplier in four others.

Network Rail also awarded SSL a framework agreement to design and develop European Train Control System using Alstom’s proven Atlas ERTMS technology.