Research is essential to meet rails future challenges
Our research programme provides strong benefits to the whole industry, helping all parts of the sector optimise the value of their existing assets and capabilities. It has had an effective role in steering the early exploration of novel solutions. For example, RSSB research has pioneered initiatives such as the Data Sandbox and the ‘Adhesion Riddle’ competition, and it is great to see that some of the promising concepts from these competitions have become successful commercial products.
Rail’s strong green credentials, and great safety record, give it the potential to be the preferred form of mass transit for people and goods throughout the 21st century. It can continue to support the growth and prosperity of the country in this century, as it did in the 19th and 20th centuries.
However, over the next few years, it will be more important than ever to make the most of existing assets, and to identify and prioritise the interventions needed to make the most of the limited resources and investment available. This is because the world is changing, from climate change to travel behaviours, from new skills needed from the workforce to the AI revolution. These are all highly impactful, wide-ranging changes and it is only by continuing with cross-industry research that rail can innovate safely and efficiently to offer the service our customers need in this changing context.
Informed decisions in the face of climate change
Take for example the need to respond to more frequent extreme weather events in a way that allows rail to continue to serve our customers safety. Through our research programme we initiated work to optimise the operational response to convective rain. This showed that there is immense value in being able to deliver a localised, evidence, and risk-based response in such circumstances.
There is a real opportunity in expanding such approaches to other extreme weather events, as well as enhancing the underpinning modelling capacities with richer real-time data, and better forecasting of the impacts on journey reliability and costs.
Part of an effective response that improves the rail network’s resilience to extreme weather will be making the right investments in solutions. Many adaptations and mitigations already exist, but they require investment and can cause short-term disruptions if not implemented appropriately. This means that what and where to prioritise investment is an essential question. Our research programme, underpinned by our risk modelling and technical expertise, is in a unique position to answer that question.
Making the most of capital investments
The research programme can also enable incremental changes and inform the roll-out of new solutions, so that industry derives the maximum value from its capital investments.
Capital investment programmes offer the best opportunity to introduce innovative solutions. Core to our research offering is looking at proposed solutions from a whole-system basis, which achieves two important things: it de-risks their introduction, and it enables wider network benefits beyond scheme-specific ones.
With exactly these objectives in mind, the research programme is currently looking at the operational and technical rules needed to make the introduction of battery trains a success. We are also exploring the implications and opportunities of the East Coast roll-out of the European Train Control System (ETCS) for future route knowledge requirements.
In the future we need to use research to inform requirements around testing, and digital testing in particular, so that the new equipment can be introduced on the network safely, more rapidly, and cheaply. We also need research to underpin data formats and standards for wider and smoother use of data and to investigate better solutions for intelligent energy management.
Great things have small beginnings
Our research programme is involved in early feasibility research projects too. Current examples include the use of enzymes for treating low-adhesion, and the use of AI for monitoring safety-critical communications. The future will see a continuing development of new technologies that need small early feasibility research in the rail context, and the research programme’s work here will be the bedrock for future innovation.
We are working closely with Network Rail R&D team – another key player in the rail research and innovation landscape – on the research pipeline for Control Period 7. So now is the perfect time to tell us about research needs and ideas that your organisation cannot pursue in isolation.
