UK: A test section of overhead electrification which can be raised or lowered to provide different contact wire gradients and to assess whether bridges actually need to be raised or speed restrictions imposed during electrification projects is one of 24 proposals awarded a grant from the Department for Business & Trade’s Innovation in Railway Construction programme.
The funding will enable feasibility studies for the concepts to be undertaken for three months from May 1. Selected successful concepts would then be implemented in 2024 at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence, which is under development in South Wales for opening in 2025.
| Government funding for first phase projects | £565 468 |
| Match funding from project teams | £259 971 |
| Total | £825 439 |
‘From the outset we’ve wanted GCRE to pioneer new ideas and be a place where outstanding and creative research and development is undertaken’, said GCRE Chief Executive Simon Jones on February 28. ’This list of 24 feasibility projects is very much in keeping with that vision.’
Mike Noakes, Head of Rail at the Department for Business & Trade, said the best ideas would ’grow into new products and technologies that can be deployed on and around the UK rail network and then globally, with benefit for passengers, operators, the wider industry and UK plc’.
| Project | Applicant | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| Composite Twin Track Cantilever (CTTC) for Smarter Rail Electrification | Associated Utility Supplies | 24 998 |
| Accelerating ultra low-carbon reinforced concrete in railway construction | Basalt Technologies UK | 24 996 |
| Flywheel Energy Storage for Innovative Railway Construction | Epsilon Ten | 24 999 |
| Mimicrete GCRE - Self Healing in Railway Practice. | Mimicrete | 24 854 |
| Graphene enhanced concrete sleeper for lower embodied carbon | Nationwide Rail | 23 602 |
| NAUTILUS - Novel asset management twin and instrumentation system - feasibility study | Cranfield University | 24 881 |
| Protecting trains, staff, plant and infrastructure through construction and operation: a feasibility study into the application of Universal Interlocking on GCRE | Skyblue Engineering | 24 826 |
| GreenGasRefuel GCRE | Ultra Light Rail Partners | 24 999 |
| Low Carbon Acoustic Barriers - Demonstrating Innovation in Railway Construction | Tilon C G | 24 899 |
| INTERMODAL - INTElligent Real-time, MOnitoring & Detection video AnaLytics solution for rail construction | Robok | 24 737 |
| Global Centre of Rail Excellence: Underpass | Hypertunnel | 24 912 |
| Automated semantic scene content extraction for Security, Safety, Construction and Maintenance | Aralia Systems | 24 997 |
| Feasibility of delivering and demonstrating a human-in-the-loop digital twin in the construction and maintenance of GCRE (Athena) | Pauley Group | 23 955 |
| Attaining Ubiquitous Railway Analysis (AURA) | Focus Sensors | 24 865 |
| COst-Reducing Dynamic Electrification gradient System (CODES): electrification equipment which can be raised or lowered at the touch of a button to create different overhead line gradients, enabling research into whether a low birdge would need to be lifted to enable wiring, and facilitating reviews of line speed restrictions | Furrer + Frey GB | 23 846 |
| Innovative CAntilever for Greener Electrification at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (ICAGE GCRE): researching a composite cantilever for railway masts in partnership with the National Composites Centre, with the aim of saving cost and carbon versus traditional steels | Furrer + Frey GB | 24 992 |
| Safe Rail Vibrations | Efficiency Ups | 24 997 |
| Cable CoPS: Using Fibre Optic Cable for Construction Perimeter Security | Thales Ground Transportation Systems | 0 (zero-cost application) |
| Feasibility of the Use of Tethered and Automated Drones for Rail | Drone Evolution | 23 363 |
| Renewable Power System Control Approach for GCRE | Enerail | 24 962 |
| Gravity sensing for rail construction feasibility study | Silicon Microgravity | 24 897 |
| TRACD - Transforming Rail Construction using Data: Digital frameworks for material efficiency and reducing carbon emissions | Costain | 22 391 |
| Mobile Rail Panel Handler (MoRPH) | Thomson Engineering Design | 24 530 |
| Delivering telecommunications innovations in Railway Construction at the GCRE | Ingram Networks | 24 970 |
