Two additional UK rail Centres of Excellences planned

Two new Centres of Excellence are planned by the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN).

The centres will be based on Inclusive Passenger Experience and Rail Economics, Policy and Operations. The former covers topics such as inclusive design, passenger digital connectivity, future passenger preferences and demand, and passenger performance metrics. The latter covers demand forecasting, cost modelling, pricing, regulatory policy and competition, investment appraisal and evaluation, and operations research.

The decision to increase the number of Centres of Excellence follows the publication of the Rail Technical Strategy.

These two new centres will join the existing network of four Centres of Excellence, which cover Digital Systems, Rolling Stock, Infrastructure and Testing.

“Over the past three years, since UKRRIN’s launch, the partnership between academia and industry has shown how powerful collaboration is in supporting innovation in rail - enabling universities and businesses to get their products and services into use on the rail network,” said UKRRIN Chairwoman Jo Binstead.

RSSB Head of Academic Partnerships Sharon Odetunde added: “Attracting customers back and reducing railway costs are the biggest railway challenges as we come out of the pandemic. These need the very best expertise and collaboration platform to be successfully tackled.

“The two new proposed UKRRIN Centres of Excellence are key to accelerate the development of the required new knowledge and innovative solutions.”

UKRRIN is seeking expressions of interest. The deadline is March 19.