Network Rail has partnered with Preservica to create a new cloud-based digital archive designed to actively preserve and provide secure access to vital operational information and unique digital assets from the history of the UK’s railway network.
Digital information held in Preservica’s AWS hosted digital preservation platform will be used to inform new projects across the business, and meet legal obligations under the Railway Heritage Act 1996 to make important business and infrastructure records accessible indefinitely.
The new archive will serve the dual role of protecting born-digital business information generated since 2002, and digital heritage content. This includes organisational, corporate and operational records such as annual company reports, board meeting minutes, timetables and marketing campaigns, as well as valuable digitised artefacts such as Brunel’s railway engineering drawings dating back to the 1830s.
Priority materials for transfer to Preservica include Network Rail’s extensive digital film collection. These include timelapsed videos of projects such as the Ordsall Chord Great North Rail Project in Manchester and work on the concourse roof at Kings Cross station in London.
Preservica’s active digital preservation technology will ensure these critical information assets remain readable and useable over decades through active management and migration of files as older formats become obsolete.
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