RSSB has announced the winners of the £1 million Intelligent Power Solutions to Decarbonise Rail competition. The six feasibility studies funded through the RSSB competition will develop alternative, energy-efficient technologies for high speed trains and freight trains, and innovative solutions for the provision, storage and distribution infrastructure of energy.
The projects winners are:
- Decarbonising High-Speed Bi-mode Railway Vehicles through Optimal Power Control – Loughborough University, in collaboration with Angel Trains, Chiltern and Great Western Railway
- Digital displacement for Non-Passenger Rail – Artemis Intelligent Power, Direct Rail Services, University of Huddersfield, in collaboration with Freightliner and Voith Turbo
- Dual fuel locomotives to decarbonise freight operations – G-volution, in collaboration with GB Railfreight, Network Rail, Loram UK,
- Green Valley Lines – Riding Sunbeams, in collaboration with Ricardo Energy, Network Rail, Energy Saving Trust Wales, 10:10 Climate Action and Transport for Wales
- Hyd-Energy: Feasibility and concept design of future hydrail enabled railway depots –University of Birmingham, in collaboration with Porterbrook and Transport for West Midlands
- Digital Environment for Collaborative Intelligent De-carbonisation (DECIDe) – Newcastle University, in collaboration with HS2 and MTR
The competition winners will be supporting the rail industry’s quest to decarbonise traction energy providing novel solutions to ensure the railways continue to offer one of the lowest-carbon transport options for passengers and freight. The work is fully supported by the Decarbonisation Task Force, which published its Initial Report to the Rail Minister in January, and ties in to the latest research by RSSB. The projects are expected to publish their findings early in mid-2020.