A new £8.5m research programme aims to develop railway track for the future that will cost less and last longer with reduced maintenance needs and improved environmental performance, causing significantly less disruption to travellers.
The programme, known as Track to the Future (T2F), will run for five years and started this month. T2F is a collaboration between academics from our University, Birmingham, Huddersfield and Nottingham.
It is funded primarily by a £5.2m programme grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with the remainder coming through industry support and from the partner Universities. A comprehensive industry partnership led by Network Rail will steer the research and make use of the scientific discoveries.
T2F aims to help infrastructure operators and owners develop low-maintenance, low-noise track to underpin the continued increase in train frequencies, speeds and operating hours.
Professor William Powrie, from the University and lead academic on T2F, says:
“We are addressing these key challenges through state-of-the-art experimental and analytical techniques, and the integration of advanced behavioural models in the areas of geomechanics, track systems, vehicle dynamics, noise and vibration.
“By extending our scientific knowledge and developing new analytical tools, we will make it possible for engineers to design railway track systems that give longer, more reliable service at much reduced cost.”
Read the full press release here.