‘Speeding up the development of tomorrow’s railway’
– Projects identified for development at GCRE as part of international innovation challenge
Teams involved in a major rail innovation competition have developed studies for projects that could be delivered at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE).
In 2024, Innovate UK and the UK Government announced the ‘Contracts for Innovation: International Rail Innovation Challenges’ programme, aimed at addressing major issues in the global rail industry.
The competition was launched at InnoTrans 2024 in Berlin, with teams invited to develop ideas that addressed challenges faced by the international rail industry. The project was funded through the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) as well as the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
In total, 105 submissions were made to the competition, with 44 having received funding from the competition to develop their ideas to feasibility stage.
GCRE will be a facility for world class rail research, testing and innovation of rolling stock, infrastructure and cutting-edge new rail technologies.
Some of the projects funded through the competition involved, Autonomous Repair of Railway Infrastructure; Green Hydrogen Derivatives and Automated Rolling Stock Inspection.
28 of the feasibility studies have identified the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) which is being developed in South Wales as the centre at which their ideas could be taken forward.
GCRE Ltd Chief Executive Simon Jones said the projects showed the commercial potential of the Global Centre of Excellence facility.
Chief Executive of GCRE Limited, Simon Jones said:
“We were delighted to help launch the competition at InnoTrans last September and it has been fantastic to see the creative responses. 28 teams see GCRE as the place where their ideas could be taken forward, all aimed at speeding up the development of tomorrow’s railway.
“The ideas we have seen supported through the first phase of the programme relate to some of the most urgent and important challenges in international rail. They show us how we can develop the stronger, greener and more reliable passenger and freight railways we need across the world.
“What they also demonstrate very clearly is the importance of collaboration in getting there. The competition has brought together teams working in industry, academia and the supply chain from right across the world, all committed to working together to take forward their exciting projects.
“Critically, with this competition we are showing what is truly possible at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence. We have been making the argument for some time that the UK and European rail sector needs a high-quality facility for advanced technology rail research, testing and innovation and through this competition we are seeing the scale – and the importance – of that opportunity.
“This competition is a critical one for GCRE as it shows the growing commercial appeal of the facility we are developing because of the unique infrastructure we will have on site. Nowhere else in Europe will have facilities like GCRE and that can be seen in the numbers of international teams wanting to come forward and work with us.
“This competition is one of the most wide-ranging to be launched in the last few years and offered teams the chance to be imaginative in the ideas and the innovations they come forward with. Teams have stepped up to that challenge and we’ve seen some fantastic ideas come through the programme.”
-Ends-
Notes:
- See here for the full competition scope and list of themes: Competition overview – Contracts for Innovation: International Rail Innovation Challenges – Innovation Funding Service
- The 44 projects that have received funding from the competition to develop their ideas to feasibility stage:
| Project Title | Lead |
| Theme 1: maintenance crew dispatch | |
| Trial of platform to streamline the maintenance decision making of NR Seasonal Delivery Teams | LENZ LTD |
| AI-based Stable Hazard Diffusion Framework To Enhance Hazard Detection On Railway Tracks Via Representative Hazard Generation | University of Huddersfield |
| PRISM: Predictive Rail Innovation for Supporting Maintenance | Newcastle University |
| Theme 2: solutions for efficient and cost-effective methods for controlling wind-blown contaminants | |
| Efficient and Cost-Effective Methods for Controlling Wind-Blown Contaminants on Railway Tracks | University of Birmingham |
| Dynamic Wind-Responsive Barrier System for Railway Contaminant Control | SMART ROUNDABOUT LIMITED |
| Optimisation of Sand Drifting Mitigation Measures for Railway Infrastructure Design and Maintenance | RWDI ANEMOS LIMITED |
| Theme 4: high quality low cost track inspection | |
| InterDrOPS – Characterisation Of Aerodynamic Drag To Optimise Intermodal Rail Operations | University of Birmingham |
| SWIFFT – Smart Wheel Integrated Fit & Forget Technology | PEAK TO PEAK MEASUREMENT SOLUTIONS LTD. |
| On-board friction measurements | RIVELIN RAIL LIMITED |
| Theme 5: non-intrusive monitoring of geotechnical stability | |
| Adopting innovation whilst minimising noise disturbances from rail sites | ATMO TECHNOLOGY LTD |
| nanoRail: Non-Intrusive Geotechnical Stability Monitoring System Using Satellite Interferometry | TRACKGENESIS LIMITED |
| Low Cost, High Value IoT Rail Monitoring | FULL MATRIX LTD |
| Theme 6: exploit optical fibres | |
| Novae.Lighthouse: Distributed Fibre Detection of Rail Anomalies | PROAPTUS LTD |
| RODENT (Railway Obstruction Detection, Evaluation, Notification and Triage) | FOCUS SENSORS LIMITED |
| CrownComm: Advanced Real-Time Rail Monitoring through Beyond-5G/6G Open-RAN and Optical Fiber Exploitation | INTEGRATED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING LTD |
| Theme 8: rapid repair of railway infrastructure | |
| Faster Repairs: Delivering Accurate Location of Electrical Faults | SIEMENS MOBILITY LIMITED |
| Remote autonomous rapid repair of railway infrastructure | Cranfield University |
| In-situ capability assessment for rail repair via additive manufacturing | University of Sheffield |
| Theme 9: ensuring the hatches of freight waggons are fully closed | |
| Embarking on a vision | INSTRUMENTEL LIMITED |
| Theme 11: streamline the inspection process for rolling stock | |
| PANDAS – 360 – Automated rolling stock inspection and reporting | JR DYNAMICS LIMITED |
| Maintenance-Free Wireless-Powered Train-Scale Condition Monitoring | RX WATT LIMITED |
| Train condition Reporting and Automated Cleaning Kinetics (TRACK) | EYYA LTD |
| Theme 12: strategies to enhance the aerodynamics of the entire train set | |
| Air Shield Protection System (ASPS) | METEOR POWER LIMITED |
| Reducing traction energy through improved freight aerodynamics | SIEMENS MOBILITY LIMITED |
| Theme 13: capturing the emissions from any fuel | |
| FlexiCapture: Emission control solutions for global rail with minimal modifications | H-DEUX LTD |
| Validation of Emissions Reduction Approaches – Hydrogen and Carbon Capture | ENGINEERING SUPPORT GROUP LIMITED |
| Theme 14: sustainable solutions for construction materials | |
| Non-metallic reinforcement and low carbon binders in modular precast concrete rail station platform systems | NCC OPERATIONS LIMITED |
| Recycled Material Modular Adjustable Passenger Platform | DURA COMPOSITES LIMITED |
| Reducing or Replacing Steel and Concrete (RoReSaC) | COMPOSITE BRAIDING LIMITED |
| Theme 15: the best electrification approach for the network | |
| OBC – OHL Boundary Control | COMMS DESIGN LIMITED |
| E-LIFT: Electrical Logistic Innovation for Freight and Transport | FURRER + FREY GB LIMITED |
| Electrification Evaluation Tool | ENERAIL LTD |
| Theme 16: transportation of hydrogen by rail and road vehicles | |
| HydroTrans for Hydrogen Transport: Implementation Feasibility Study | University of Birmingham |
| Ambient P&T Green hydrogen derivative | BIOFOUNDRY ENERGY LIMITED |
| Hydrogen by Rail – a new energy vector? | VANGUARD SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS LIMITED |
| Theme 18: solutions for revenue generation in the underutilised parking spaces | |
| Optimising renewable energy strategy for rail sites, in partnership with GCRE | ATMO TECHNOLOGY LTD |
| Direct carbon capture as a source of revenue generation at underutilised parking spaces | ALGACRAFT LTD |
| Innovative Rail Station Workspaces: Accessible, Safe, and Sustainably Powered Solutions for Underutilised Parking Spaces | NOTA BENE CONSULTING LTD |
| Theme 19: solutions to increase the resilience of railway infrastructure | |
| Intelligent Deer Deterrent System with Advanced Monitoring Dashboard for Railway Protection (ADDS) | INNOVATION FACTORY LIMITED |
| Increasing the resilience of railway infrastructure in the face of natural events and deliberate damage through the use of trackside Antenna Sensor Units | INGRAM NETWORKS LTD |
| Theme 21: onboard compact system to measure and analyse vibrations, dynamic behaviour and noise | |
| SMOOTH – Smart Monitoring of Onboard condition and Optimisation for Traveller Harmony | IVY TECH LTD |
| Advanced Ride Comfort Monitoring System – integration of noise, cabin pressure monitoring and vehicle dynamic modelling | MONIRAIL LTD |
| Comfort on Track: Revolutionising Passenger Experience with AI-Driven Vibration and Noise Control | EARTEX LTD |
| Theme 22: making the network more resilient in the face of natural disasters and single points of failure | |
| Feasibility study of demonstration and test Repoint track switch at GCRE | University of Birmingham |