Showcasing the best in rail… 

In this week’s blog Chief Commercial Officer Kelly Warburton highlights the ‘showcasing’ potential of the new Global Centre of Rail Excellence facility being built in South Wales

One of the most important developments in rail in recent years has been the growing acceptance by government and the industry at all levels that the landscape of innovation in rail needs to change.  

A consensus has been built across the sector that while the UK and Europe has many strengths in rail innovation, we need to do more to support the faster development of new ideas, technologies, processes and skills. The new products needed for the stronger and more sustainable rail network of tomorrow have to be brought to market quicker and more efficiently than is currently the case. 

That view has developed, in part, because of the important role rail needs to play in tackling many of the social, economic and environmental challenges we face in the coming years.

UK and European governments now have stretching, legally binding carbon reduction targets to meet on the path to net zero; we need to make our economies fairer, particularly in deindustrialised areas through stronger connective infrastructure; and every economy wants to take advantage of new export opportunities. In each one of these areas rail has a vital, enabling role to play and innovation – the faster development of new and creative ideas – will play an important role in achieving them.

This ambition can be seen expressed by governments across the UK and Europe.  

‘Accelerating innovation and modernisation’ was one of the pillars of the ‘Plan for Rail’ the UK Government announced back in 2021 and ‘…a faster uptake and deployment of projects and innovations’ is one of the key objectives of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking designed to help guide network development and investment across Europe over the next decade.

Of course, a critical element of the innovation process is proving to the outside world that the new products, technologies and processes being developed are safe, efficient and, ultimately, ready for their intended use on the mainline railway.

For the new Global Centre of Rail Excellence facility being built in South Wales, the ‘showcasing’ of new innovations and products is just as important a service as the research, testing and development being offered on site. And that showcasing will serve a number of important value-added purposes, for a variety of different users of the site.

Firstly, for those charged with helping to validate and certify new products, GCRE offers a potentially significant new platform from which to undertake their work. Certification work at the South Wales facility will be undertaken in partnership with industry bodies and will provide a representative, offline, ‘live’ railway environment at which the critical approval of new products can be undertaken in a much more accessible way than is currently the case.

Secondly, showcasing at GCRE will offer benefits to clients of all sizes. For early-stage innovators, GCRE will put within reach an affordable, world class research and development facility that can support the faster development of their brand new ideas and first of a kind technologies.

GCRE has itself already shown this is possible, through the development of a creative new partnership with Innovate UK in collaboration with the Department of Business and Trade to support their ‘Innovation in Railway Construction’ competition. It offers teams a unique opportunity to not only fund and develop creative new types of rail construction materials and ideas but a much more accessible environment at which they can demonstrate and showcase their ideas to multiple audiences.  

Thirdly, for larger clients testing and developing products at the GCRE facility for a commercial market, partnerships on site with industry standards bodies and certification authorities will mean homologation is built into the process of research and development from the very start. We want to make it as easy as possible for those involved in testing new products so that if you can show it can work at GCRE – a representative, live railway environment – you’ve shown it can work on the mainline network, with approvals a seamless next step in the process. 

Finally, for those customers who have already done their testing and secured their approvals, GCRE can provide another vitally important commercial function – the chance to showcase to new clients what your innovations can do – a sales platform in itself  

In selling any new product, glossy brochures only take you so far. What’s often critical to a company securing a sale is offering clients the chance to see and experience their new technology for themselves, up close. But for the rail industry kit located and installed along the mainline railway can often be inaccessible or difficult to show to new customers – for very good reasons of safety and security.

At GCRE that task will be a lot easier. It will be possible to show customers, in closer detail, a new signalling system or composite sleeper technology, for example. GCRE can provide potential commercial clients the opportunity to see new innovations, in-situ and in operation on a live railway. A working showroom for the railways and beyond which is open all year for assets large and small, physical and digital.  

The addition of the Global Centre of Rail Excellence to the rail innovation landscape has the potential to significantly enhance the way we develop new ideas both here in the UK and across Europe. As a site for world class research, testing and certification of rolling stock, infrastructure and cutting-edge new rail technologies, the industry will finally have the purpose built, integrated facility it has needed for the faster development of new products and technologies.  

But what it will also get is a world class platform from which to highlight and showcase the very best in rail innovation. A place from which new technologies can be proved and those in the supply chain can secure new commercial customers and export opportunities.  

It’s what makes the Global Centre of Rail Excellence such an important and unique addition to the rail innovation ecosystem in the UK and Europe.