Global Centre of Rail Excellence – Highlights of 2024

2024 has been an important year for the Global Centre of Rail Excellence.

We’ve highlighted the export potential of GCRE across Europe and internationally; installed our first products for testing and showcasing on the site; reinforced the commercial momentum behind the business by agreeing some high profile new partnerships and we’ve continued to develop strong links with the local community. Take a look at some of our highlights below.

Among some of the most important moments of the year was our work with industry partners where we were able to tangibly demonstrate the strong and growing commercial momentum that sits behind our vision to create a world class facility for rail research, testing and innovation at GCRE in South Wales. In 2024 we:

• Signed major new innovation collaborations with commercial partners, including Network Rail, CAF, Katrick and UrbanMass
• Hosted more than 200 visitors to the GCRE site through our commercial open days
• Engaged with industry at key events throughout the year, including speaking engagements at annual conferences of RIA, Rail Forum, Rail Partners and Rail Cymru as well as having a visible presence at events such as Rail Live, InfraTalk, RailCymru and RSN Networking
• Organised specialist workshops on the GCRE site with UK and Welsh government as well as industry partners including ORR and hosted a successful GCRE Tour Day prior to the RIA Innovation Conference in Newport
• Participated as a member of the RIA Wales and Western Leadership group
• Provided a keynote GCRE speaker at the launch of new RSSB Guidance for Railway Testing and Validation
• Highlighted the wider mobility potential of GCRE at MOVE 2024 and Cenex 2024, as well as holding two specialist workshops with industry partners
• Were nominated, alongside our partners Jackson Geo Services, AtkinsRéalis and Walters, at the Ground Engineering Awards 2024 for ‘Ground Investigation Project of the Year’
• Highlighted as part of an international Geotechnical Conference in Lisbon as a case study for how to re-use Brownfield Sites
• Gave specialist talks and presentations at the Permanent Way Institution (PWI), Smart Rail Europe and at the Rail Innovation Group  

What has perhaps been most striking about this last year has been the international interest and demand we have seen building in GCRE. 2024 was a year when we took the GCRE message beyond the UK and showed potential customers from across Europe and further afield what GCRE could do to support faster rail innovation and the delivery of major infrastructure, rolling stock and new technology deployments. Our work to highlight the export potential of GCRE included:

• Taking our export message onto the very biggest stage at InnoTrans2024 signing agreements with Crossrail International, Katrick, NGRT, Thales, Konux and Ulusoy Railway Systems
• Launching the £1.5m ‘Contracts for Innovation: International Rail Innovation Challenges’ programme alongside Innovate UK and the Department for Business and Trade
• Outlining the GCRE vision to potential customers at Middle East Rail and Global Rail 2024
• Hosting President of Hitachi Europe, Andrew Barr at the GCRE site
• Showcasing GCRE alongside UK and Welsh Government during trade missions to Wales from Quebec, Poland and Turkey
• Representing Wales at the European Week of Cities and Regions in Brussels, sitting on an expert panel from across the continent
• Becoming Rail Forum’s Export Partner for 2024-25, joining their Export Steering Group

Across the GCRE site we made important progress in showing what the amazing 700-hectare space we have can do to support high quality research, testing and innovation. Over the last year we have:

• Taken delivery of 3 class 360 EMUs at the GCRE site, vehicles that will become the backbone of our Infrastructure Testing Loop (ITL)
• Developed a new, 440m ‘Line 4’ track at the GCRE site for early-stage testing, research and demonstrations
• Supported twelve teams through the £7.4m Innovate UK/DBT funded Innovation in Railway Construction Competition, with a major demonstration day held in December, hosting partners from across the industry
• Installed the first ever products for showcasing on the GCRE site in partnership with Gramm Barriers and HATKO – the world’s first carbon neutral noise barrier, appearing in international media coverage in Turkey
• Opened a new conference room and hotdesking facility at the GCRE site for the business and its partners
• Installed a Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) gateway at the GCRE site as part of the wider Swansea Bay City Region Digital Innovation Network, the highest smart gateway anywhere in the region

We’ve continued to show the impact of what our new facility can do for our partners, raising the profile and the visibility of one of the most creative developments anywhere in international rail. In 2024 we:

• Launched GCRE’s ‘four missions’ to articulate the core ambitions of the business and to show the impact the world class facility can have on the community, environment, economy and the wider industry
• Refreshed our economic impact assessment, which highlighted that GCRE will support 1,100 jobs over its first ten years, showing that for every £1 spent on the GCRE facility the development will deliver £15 of wider benefits, contributing £300m of GVA uplift to the regional economy over the next decade
• Raised the profile of GCRE, including appearing on the Green Signals Podcast; publishing a new GCRE brochure and appearing in major press features across the year, including in RAIL magazine, Business Focus, Rail Infrastructure, Global Railway Review, the Women in Rail Annual Report and many others
• Published video case studies of GCRE’s potential as a site for innovation in collaboration with Innovate UK, Furrer&Frey, Thomson Engineering and Intermodal
• Had the potential of GCRE highlighted in the House of Commons and the Senedd, along with high profile site visits through the year, including by the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Transport
• Published a major endorsement feature by former Welsh Government First Minister Carwyn Jones on the economic, social and environmental impact of GCRE

Critical to the long-term impact of GCRE is ensuring the facility helps to re-build local prosperity in the communities and region around the site. In 2024 our work in the community included:

• Supporting 788 young people near the site through the GCRE Primary Engineer programme, building their understanding of STEM, highlighting the importance of engineering and allowing them to learn more about the Global Centre of Rail Excellence
• Hosting a Celebration Day in March with local schools in collaboration with Primary Engineer to highlight our schools engagement work
• Organising a workshop with local skills providers in Neath to discuss the education, training and employability potential of GCRE
• Holding a series of community roadshows locally to explain the GCRE purpose and progress
• Engaging with local MPs, MSs and community members through our GCRE Regional Committee and Local Liaison groups
• Working with training providers to highlight the skills potential of GCRE and worked with employability teams in Neath Port Talbot and Powys Councils
• Engaging in local conferences held by 4theRegion and as a keynote speaker at the Swansea Bay Property Lunch 2024
• Giving a specialist summer talk on GCRE at the Neath Great Western Railway Retired Staff Club
• Taking part in specialist roundtables and presentations throughout the year, including at Swansea and Cardiff Universities
• Highlighting the community and industry impact of GCRE at a meeting of Commonwealth Young Leaders at Windsor Palace

Thank you to all those who have helped and supported the Global Centre of Rail Excellence over the last twelve months. 2025 promises to be another exciting year for GCRE and its partners

Have a relaxing Christmas and New Year break!

From everyone at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence