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The School of Engineering at MMU has longstanding research into many aspects of railway engineering. This commenced in 1998 under the leadership of Professor Simon Iwnicki, who carried out research into the interaction between railway vehicles and the track. The understanding of the dynamics of the wheel rail contact that has resulted from this work has been developed into a number of tools and techniques that are being used on a daily basis by the rail industry both to design new railway systems and to predict the deterioration of railway wheels and rails. This allows railway engineers to predict and control roughness growth on rails and to optimise wheel profiles and maintenance intervals on wheel and track.
This work is now helping the railway industry internationally to realise both economic and environmental impacts as track maintenance costs are reduced, safety levels are enhanced and passengers continue to switch from road to rail in increasing numbers. This is evidenced by the award of new research contracts and industry funding and by direct input into industry standards.
The UK Rail Industry has set itself a target of increasing capacity by a factor of two within 30 years for both passengers and freight. A central problem is to increase the capacity and performance of the (existing) rail network. Signalling systems and their safety is a major consideration. It is towards this long-term goal that we direct our research activity on signalling. Our research impacts both current practices and strategic planning within the Railway Industry:
The transport of people, goods, and utilities (e.g. electricity, oil, gas and water) is essential to civilised life, and in turn depends on a robust, reliable and affordable infrastructure. Since 1995, the University of Southampton Geomechanics Group (SGG) has led the development of an enhanced, science-based framework for understanding the behaviour of geotechnical transport infrastructure through monitoring, modelling and analysis. The techniques we have developed have been used by the builders, owners and operators of transport infrastructure both nationally and internationally to develop improved understandings of infrastructure geotechnical behaviour both during construction and in service. This has led to substantial savings in build, maintenance and operational costs; the implementation of effective remediation and management strategies; and significantly improved infrastructure performance.
A University of Nottingham research programme on rail human factors, in collaboration with Network Rail, has delivered significant impact to practitioners and professional services within the industry. New tools for workload management and efficiency are now routinely used as part of Network Rail's ergonomics toolkit and are supporting the fulfilment of the company's National Operating Strategy. Risk analysis tools have also contributed to Network Rail's programme providing enhanced asset information.
These tools have also been taken up by international train operators in Australia and the Netherlands.
Reductions in railway infrastructure and operating costs, through efficiency gains, deliver benefits to taxpayers (via lower subsidies) and/or passengers (via lower fares). Research undertaken by the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds from 2005 onwards revealed a 37% efficiency gap in relation to rail infrastructure costs and operations, relative to international best practice. The key impact of this research was to inform the Office of Rail Regulation's (ORR) setting, in 2008, of annual efficiency targets for Network Rail for the subsequent five-year period, resulting in a reduction in costs from £18.2bn to £15.8bn over the five year regulatory `control period' starting 2009/10. A secondary impact of the ITS Leeds research was to provide key benchmarking and evidence in more recent ORR efficiency assessments (2010) and Sir Roy McNulty's long-term policy-setting Rail Value for Money (VfM) study (2011). Extending the reach of these research impacts, the water and sewerage regulator OFWAT has, from 2013, adopted the ITS Leeds approach for its latest periodic review.
ERPE, through the application of XiTRACK technology (using advanced polyurethane polymers to reinforce the ballast matrix, enhancing strength, stiffness and resilience) — has reduced track maintenance by a factor of up to 40, increased maintenance intervals from 3-monthly to 10 years with track speeds increased up to 125 mph in critical sections of the UK, Italy and Hong Kong rail networks. Developments in Finite Element (FE) geomechanics related to Rayleigh waves are used by HS2; and FE backed artificial neural networks are informing US High Speed operators on ground borne vibrations. The financial impact of XiTrack is estimated at least £50M; and avoidance of Rayleigh wave problems and ground borne vibration mitigation, in the region of £10M; plus benefits to millions of passengers.
UCL spinout company, Senceive Ltd, has established itself as an innovative provider of wireless enabled remote condition monitoring solutions. The company provides a robust, scalable, safe and highly cost-effective infrastructure monitoring capability for railway and construction industry applications, with customers including Amey, Costain, Network Rail and Tubelines. Recent deployments on projects such as Crossrail have been recognised by industry bodies as delivering significant product innovation and cost savings in excess of £1 million compared to use of a wired monitoring solution.
The underpinning research has led to a methodology for cost-effective monitoring systems to interpret complex and emergent conditions in real-world applications. There are ten different organisations utilising the technology, benefitting the UK economy and health care provision, both nationally and internationally. These include MAST Group Ltd, Electricity North West Ltd, TMMHRC (India) and the Milestones Trust (Bristol). The impacts are (i) Economic: improving business capabilities and UK company profit margins (ii) Societal: benefiting health sector organisations in India and in the UK through improved diagnosis and care for the elderly and vulnerable; and (iii) Environmental: reducing waste and carbon footprint.
Low-cost wireless solutions beyond the technologies available previously and developed at Loughborough University since 2005 are used by IDC, and Sure, who integrate these technologies in several products and services so generating impacts in terms of:
The technologies have been deployed in a logistics distribution centre (ToysRUs), an automotive manufacturing process (Toyota), and a safety and security system (Sure).
This case study highlights the research carried out by Plymouth researchers in developing a new product in coded railway signalling, the EBI Track 400. Through this patented product, Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd has become the world leader in coded track systems, currently making profits in excess of $6 Million per annum through worldwide sales. The innovative coding algorithms and enhanced system performance has improved railway reliability, eliminated `false positive' danger alerts, and achieved savings for train operators while improving the travelling experience. It has also secured existing jobs and increased investment at their Plymouth site.