Key Research Areas
Shaped by industry priorities and government strategies, our areas of focus are:
Optimised operations
The reliability of train services is essential for the satisfaction of rail customers. Novel insights and solutions are required to reduce delays and cancellations, particularly as extreme weather events become more frequent.
Efficient and reliable assets
The costs and reliability of the railway depend on its assets. New knowledge is needed to make the most of existing assets. Research is also vital to inform capital investment, in particular to understand implications at the whole system level.
Future risk modelling
RSSB safety risk modelling capability has informed industry decisions and driven safety improvements over the last two decades. Current challenges, like the imperative of making rail more affordable, require a step-change in risk modelling.
Reducing train accident risk
Recent incidents show that the industry cannot rest on its strong safety record. Research is needed to drive further reduction in derailment and collision risk. This requires better understanding of the precursors and mitigations of these events.
Traction power management
Rail must lower its emissions. To achieve this, the introduction of multi-mode vehicles and new traction modes is gathering pace. The new technical interfaces and operational challenges this creates need sound knowledge and novel tools.
Supporting freight growth
Delivering ‘at least 75% freight growth by 2050’ requires new operational and engineering solutions. Our freight-driven research focuses on ways to increase network access, reduce journey time, and make operations safer. All these are essential enablers to growing rail freight.
Data interoperability
Accessible data that is easy to use can unlock improvements and reduce costs. Research into data interoperability helps industry make greater and better use of the ever growing data being generated.
Preparing rail for AI
There is the opportunity to accelerate and de-risk the introduction of AI in rail. To do so, navigating the fast growing standards landscape relating to AI is important. Understanding assurance requirements of different type of AI-powered solutions is also vital.
Cutting across all technical areas, we support stakeholders making the most of research:
Knowledge transfer
GB rail benefits from access to research done in other countries and in universities. This is why we maintain an overview of international and academic research in a range of rail topics. This allows to identify opportunities for knowledge sharing and closer collaborations.
From research to impact
To deliver benefits, we need to maximise the adoption of our research findings. This is why we work very closely with industry stakeholders to facilitate and monitor their implementation.
