The five-year deal will see Mitie provide the new Sentinel card service covering 90,000 employees and contractors.

Laminated cards issued under the current scheme are easy to forge but difficult to update and monitor.

The new plastic smartcards will be harder to copy and easy to check on readers and smart phones.

Mitie and its software partner Reference Point will deliver:

• reduced site registration times using smart technology
• a single, long life (up to 5 years) card
• 100% authentication of ID and skills
• Improved protection for lone workers
• a live register of the people and skills on site
• improvements in the way the industry manages fatigue
• opportunities to improve and streamline frontline processes

The new Sentinel service will be introduced from June 2013.

Gareth Llewellyn – Director, Safety & Sustainable Development, Network Rail said: “Sentinel is the passport for working on our network safely.

“Technology has moved on apace since we introduced Sentinel originally in 1999 and the opportunity to take advantage of smartcard and smartphone technology will take Sentinel to the next level and also provide us with benefits that we haven’t seen before.”

Darren Gamage, Technology Services Director, MitieTotal Security Management, said: “This is such an exciting opportunity.  New Sentinel will be the most advanced system of its kind in the UK.

Tanya Morris, Director, Reference Point, said: “This new system will deliver a simpler and smarter way for Network Rail to provide a safer environment for its trackside workers whilst cutting costs overall for the industry.”