RSSB and Network Rail are funding 15 new research projects through a pilot programme within the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN).
The projects were selected after an April call for proposals addressing technical and strategic challenges across the railway. Mobilisation is under way, with the successful schemes due to start in November.
Nine universities will lead the work, supported by UKRRIN industrial members and other rail suppliers and operators. RSSB said the successful projects had also secured significant industry funding and in-kind support.
Research priorities
The programme includes four projects focused on electric traction power, including research into power-factor control for AC electrification, reactive current support from trains and trackside equipment, faster pantograph power changeover, and modelling battery traction across routes.
Other work will examine bird strikes involving pantographs and overhead line equipment, vehicle ride comfort, higher-speed guard rails, rail squats and crossing life. One project led by the University of Leeds will develop an augmented-reality application to help welding engineers identify the position and depth of crossing repairs.
Track-focused projects will also investigate rail grinding and milling priorities, methods of measuring stress-free rail temperature, buckling risk, and the causes and prediction of ballast settlement.
Three projects address communications and positioning. These will assess the capacity of the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) spectrum in Great Britain, develop recommendations for managing FRMCS obsolescence, and create an assessment method for high-integrity positioning systems used in track worker and on-track plant safety.
Participating organisations include Alstom, Hitachi Rail, Siemens Mobility, Network Rail, Eurostar, British Steel, Porterbrook, Angel Trains, Great Western Railway and Transport for Wales, among others.
Industry adoption
Luisa Moisio, RSSB’s director of research, said the initiative was intended to improve the likelihood that academic research would progress into practical railway applications.
“This is an important step in the evolution of UKRRIN. Naturally, research is inherently exploratory, and not every finding progresses to industry adoption. Working jointly with Network Rail and the UKRRIN community, we want to raise these odds,” she said.
“This research will draw on the deep expertise and fresh thinking within UKRRIN’s world-class universities and involve UKRRIN industrial members from the outset, so the supply chain is ready to pick up the baton in their solutions.”
Network Rail chief technology officer Phil Doughty said the organisation would work with RSSB, universities and industry partners to address major rail-sector challenges.
“We are pleased to continue our partnership with UKRRIN through this pilot programme. Working closely with RSSB, universities and industry partners, we will explore new ways to address some of the rail sector’s most important challenges,” he said.