£7.8 million to drive forward innovative ideas to transform railways

Legolash2o · 13 Jun 2019

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...orward-innovative-ideas-to-transform-railways

The UK's rail network is set to become more efficient, greener and cleaner thanks to new funding for innovative ideas.

Drones capable of inspecting railway infrastructure, hydrogen train trials and a sound-bending wall to cut noise pollution are among 24 winning projects in the third round of the First of a Kind (FOAK) competition, unveiled by the Department for Transport today (13 June 2019).

Run by Innovate UK and funded by the DfT to support research, development and innovation in the UK rail industry, the competition seeks innovative ideas that can be adapted to transform rail travel.

Strengthening resilience of railway infrastructure and operations, enhancing rail freight services, and reducing environmental and noise impacts were the themes for this round. Each of the winning schemes will receive between £250,000 and £350,000.

Rail Minister Andrew Jones said:

The First of a Kind competition has consistently produced truly innovative projects developed for the benefit of passengers, helping to drive forward a greener, cleaner and more efficient rail network.

This round has been the biggest yet and I am excited to see how our funding will bring these ambitious ideas to fruition.

This government is also investing £48 billion to modernise our rail network over the next 5 years, ensuring people have the safe, frequent and punctual journeys they deserve.

Among the successful projects is 4Silence’s plan to develop a noise-reducing wall that works by diffracting sound waves from passing trains upwards. This makes it as effective as a barrier 3 times its height.

Another scheme being supported is Amey VTOL’s development of a drone system that could carry out track inspections from the skies. This would avoid the need for people to set foot on railway infrastructure.

The University of Birmingham’s Centre for Railway Research is also receiving funds for its plans to undertake the first mainline testing of a hydrogen-fuelled train in the UK.

Simon Edmonds, Deputy Executive Chair and Chief Business Officer, Innovate UK said:

The UK’s rail network delivers significant economic benefits to the nation, providing an environmentally-friendly transport system for the movement of both passengers and freight. Yet there is more we can do to boost the reliability of the network, to make it more attractive to freight users, and to make it even greener.

The pioneering projects for which we have announced funding today can increase reliability, to keep services running, with real benefits to freight operators and the environment. The programme will also help innovative companies succeed, both here and in export markets.

The first round of First of a Kind was launched in 2017 and saw 10 projects win a share of £3.5 million to develop ideas to improve passenger experience and demonstrate tomorrow’s trains.

The second round focused on schemes aimed at cutting the carbon footprint on the UK’s railways and enhancing stations for passengers. This saw another 10 projects offered a share of £3.5 million.

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Legolash2o · 13 Jun 2019

The hydrogen one is already getting a few tough questions on twitter.

Clip · 13 Jun 2019

Legolash2o said:
The hydrogen one is already getting a few tough questions on twitter.

Care to elaborate as there have already been trials on these and i believe Germany already has them https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-launches-worlds-first-hydrogen-powered-train

Class 170101 · 15 Jun 2019

I'd be interested if the drone trial works. I don't quite understand why NR think they still need to carry out visual inspections of the track / OLE using the Mark I human eyeball instead using Inspection trains which don't need all the protection around them that having humans on the track needs.

Bertie the bus · 15 Jun 2019

Class 170101 said:
I don't quite understand why NR think they still need to carry out visual inspections of the track / OLE using the Mark I human eyeball instead using Inspection trains which don't need all the protection around them that having humans on the track needs.

I don't think Network Rail do think that. Without any further information, but as an educated guess, I suspect the drone will be used to inspect reported problems, by drivers, etc, rather than carry out routine track inspections. Network Rail has several trains to do routine stuff already.

Mintona · 15 Jun 2019

I saw a drone approximately 15 metres above the track a few weeks ago. Not sure if it was a legitimate one though.

Shaw S Hunter · 15 Jun 2019

My guess would be that drones would replace the existing use of helicopters (yes, seriously). Aerial surveys are useful for checking the condition of the wider formation around embankments or clifftops where track-level observations of any sort are unlikely to pick up the beginnings of slips, etc. But drones are unlikely to be of much use for checking the condition of the rails themselves as it's things like joints and track fasteners which cause the problems and these are not readily visible from more than a few feet up. And drones will also struggle with tunnels!

Roose · 16 Jun 2019

Hard to see how with current technology a drone might replace a helicopter on the sort of extensive line inspection that a helicopter might carry out.

Legolash2o · 17 Jun 2019

I'm assuming the drone will have a high quality camera.

Clip said:
Care to elaborate as there have already been trials on these and i believe Germany already has them https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-launches-worlds-first-hydrogen-powered-train

Just the typical where they are sourcing the hydrogen from, it's CO2 impact during the creation process. Someone also mentioned about additional wear and tear if using Hydrogen, which I'm sure not how true that is.

Class 170101 · 17 Jun 2019

Legolash2o said:
Someone also mentioned about additional wear and tear if using Hydrogen, which I'm sure not how true that is.

I would have thought that would be in relatuion to comparing with electrification. Carrying diesel or Hydrogen is heavy hence more track damage compared to electrification.

Roger100 · 17 Jun 2019

Legolash2o said:
I'm assuming the drone will have a high quality camera.

To replace a helicopter you would need a military-grade drone if you want to survey a similar length of line. In many terrains the radio-control range would be too short for direct control so the whole route would need to be programmed in to the drone. Fuel (batteries) would need sufficient capacity for complete flights taking hours rather than minutes.

Current law would forbid a drone flying over even lightly populated areas. A helicopter has a pilot who can be in contact with air traffic control, who can make valuable judgements in the case of faults in his aircraft, weather, flying conditions, etc. NR would need a few satellites to enable a remote pilot to control a zone via TV from miles away.

Conventional drones may be very useful for investigating known problems over short lengths of track, where the pilot can see his drone, but otherwise it seems impractical.

Legolash2o · 18 Jun 2019

Great points!

There's also the leaves on the line project which involves have spraying small amounts of water on the line and there's the sound barriers - which hopefully works well.

£7.8 million to drive forward innovative ideas to transform railways

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