14.03.14
Innovation in rail
Source: Rail Technology Magazine Feb/Mar 2014
Dr Paul Allen, assistant director of the Institute of Railway Research at the University of Huddersfield, talks to RTM
about the newly-launched Centre for Innovation in Rail.
A new centre at the University of Huddersfield is set to develop advanced technologies and promote product innovation in the rail sector, with £4m of funding from the government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The Centre for Innovation in Rail (CIR) will see this investment boosted by its four project partners to total £20m, over nine years.
CIR will be based within the Institute of Railway Research (IRR) at the university and will build on the strategic partnership with the RSSB, with the support of NSARE and technical partners Unipart Rail and Omnicom Engineering.
Centre for Innovation
The IRR’s assistant director and CIR project manager Dr Paul Allen (who was last interviewed by RTM in the Oct/Nov 2013 edition) said: “The CIR will focus on all aspects of vehicle design and track construction to increase safety and reliability, reduce asset costs and drive performance improvement of the railway system. Priority will be given to assisting regional SMEs to develop competitive products and services that can be brokered into the railway supply chain, and result in new job creation and up-skilling of the workforce.”
Professor Simon Iwnicki, director of the IRR, added: “The research and training carried out by the Centre will contribute to the strategic needs of the railway industry as outlined in the Rail Technical Strategy and will increase the level of innovation in the industry and reduce the barriers to knowledge transfer and reduce industry costs.”
Working together
Dr Allen explained why the team behind developing the new Centre brought the partners together. He said: “Combining new technologies and access to the supply chain, we’re working together to bring new products to market. Research, development and innovation are the key aspects of the project – along with the advanced test facilities that we’re planning to install.
“Bringing together expertise from various areas in the industry means you can adopt a genuinely open innovation approach,” he added.
The centre’s focus is “evolving”, Dr Allen said, but will include railway vehicle and track dynamics, as well as wheel-rail interaction and potentially research and development related to vehicle pantograph technologies. He said: “We’ll be able to use advanced hardware in the loop testing whereby we combine software and hardware in a simulation environment. That allows us to look in much more detail at what’s happening to the vehicle and track systems.”
This will build on the IRR’s activities and £2.5m worth of testing equipment will support and expand research that could help with large projects such as HS2.
Testing, testing
The partners will have different roles, with Unipart Rail facilitating engagement with SMEs and Omnicom Engineering working with researchers directly on technological development.
Working together, Unipart Rail and the CIR are engaging regional supply chain businesses, supporting their technology requirements and helping bring new products to the sector. The centre’s advanced testing facility will allow them to see how their ideas could work in a controlled railway environment and thus optimise their designs.
Following research-supported innovation, Unipart Rail will then help provide a link into the market to sell the resulting components and technology.
Dr Allen explained: “The SMEs might have a good idea, they might need a bit of help getting the product to the right technical level, or they may need help with approvals and certification, and the CIR can supply that expertise. Unipart are working with their SMEs, bringing them into the university environment and they are supported through advanced facilities and expertise.”
The CIR is intended to have a truly practical impact on the industry, with real problems receiving targeted research and support,
as well as the opportunity to test and develop new products.
Jobs and skills
The RGF funding conditions also require job creation in the region. “Unipart Rail are based in Doncaster and the idea is that these developments and collaborations will increase the size of the SMEs and also allow Unipart to create new jobs,” Dr Allen said.
The project also encompasses the development of a new MSc course and the delivery of CPD to support high-level technician training and up-skilling in railway engineering. This will help the region to support large railway projects, ensuring the skills are in place to bid for new work.
Dr Allen concluded: “Ultimately we want to engage as much as we can across the industry; it’s about whether we can work with new partners, getting new technologies into the rail sector and reducing costs and increasing efficiencies. That’s what we’ve promised to deliver.”
Praise for the new Centre
“This funding will further enable the Strategic Partnership between ourselves and Huddersfield to expand to meet the growing and challenging needs of the rail industry.” – Colin Dennis, director of policy, research and risk, RSSB.
“We are extremely proud to be associated with the new CIR. This initiative will bring significant benefits to the region and create opportunities to develop and introduce new products and technologies to the global rail market.” – John Clayton, Unipart Group director
“Omnicom would like thank the University of Huddersfield on the excellent work on securing the RGF funding. This represents a significant step in the investment in the railways in the Yorkshire region and we are proud to be a supporter of this initiative.” – Stirling Kimkeran, CEO of Omnicom Engineering
“NSARE is proud to support this excellent initiative, which will complement our objective of ensuring that the industry has the people capability to deliver the Rail Technical Strategy.” – Gil Howarth, NSARE chief executive