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RSSB and UKRRIN host key industry event on the Rail Technical Strategy

Featured story28 October 2024
Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) and UK Rail Research and Innovation Network’s (UKRRIN) Centre of Excellence in Rolling Stock teamed up to organise an event at the University of Huddersfield’s Institute of Railway Research.

Titled ‘How can we deliver the Rail Technical Strategy 2024?’, the one-day event on 15 October 2024 brought together academics and key rail industry leaders to discuss the delivery of this important strategy.

RSSB’s Director of Research, Luisa Moisio, is a central stakeholder in the Rail Technical Strategy (RTS). She gave a speech to introduce the RTS at this event. Several other RSSB experts also spoke, discussing:

  • automated driver competency indicators
  • RSSB’s Red Aspect Approach to Signals Toolkit
  • wheel impact load detector data
  • simulating braking performance for more reliable operations.

Luisa also heads up the core RSSB team that contributes to the writing and steering of the RTS. Alongside Network Rail, the Rail Delivery Group, the Great British Railway Transition Team, and a range of academic and industrial UKRRIN partners, RSSB plays a key role in influencing this strategy.

RSSB’s research programme enables it to develop a deep understanding of the challenges the railway faces, helping its experts feed confidently into the direction of the RTS. The organisation’s ongoing collaboration with valued partners, including those above, facilitates the innovation required to overcome those challenges. 

The recently refreshed RTS defines the ‘functional priorities’ for bringing innovative technologies and solutions to the rail system. These five priorities—Easy to Use for All, Freight Friendly, Low Emissions, Optimised Train Operations, and Efficient and Reliable Assets—are the areas where it’s particularly vital to drive speedy progress and implement new technical solutions. 

Johnny Schute, RSSB’s Chief Operating Officer, said: ‘The RTS is a crucial element of the long-term strategy for rail, and RSSB continues to play a central role in developing it in collaboration with industry partners. It is an endeavour in which we take great pride, and I encourage all within the rail sector to contribute to the amazing innovation coming from the RTS.’

Luisa Moisio, RSSB’s Director of Research: ‘Improving our railway for the benefit of our customers can only be achieved through collaboration. RSSB is proud to be part of the core working group leading the refresh of the RTS. The RTS route maps represent a common agreed understanding of the areas where technical development is needed, and provide clarity on the milestones that will allow progress to be made. This is why the RTS underpins our research and innovation activities, as well as informing our standards development.

‘Academia and industry working closer together enable quicker and more innovative progress. As a proud founding member of UKRRIN and with our strategic partnership with University of Huddersfield spanning over a decade, we understand the success that can be achieved through such partnerships. They bring fresh thinking and accelerate technological progress, helping us move closer to our goals.’

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