18 November 2013
Innovators win funding to re-think the train
The first four of eight finalists have been awarded investment as a result of entering
the Radical Train competition, run by the rail industry’s Enabling Innovation Team. The
investments, which are the first substantial tranche of competition funding to be
released from EIT, will be genuine enablers to the winning SMEs, organisations and
consortia, who now have the opportunity to practically demonstrate the viability of their
proposals.
The ‘Radical Train’ challenge was set up to seek out proposals for new ideas which
aim to make a marked difference in the performance of trains on Britain’s railways,
encouraging ideas to re-think the fundamentals about rolling stock. A total of 56 high
level entrants applied and eight were shortlisted in May to develop their proposals
further to secure investment. The first four contracts have now been agreed supporting
over £6 million worth of innovation projects in the UK. The EIT is investing
approximately £2.5m with the innovators contributing a similar sum. The first four
successful applicants are:

Revolution VLR Consortium (Very Light Rail) consisting of TDI (Europe) Ltd
(Transport Design International), Unipart Rail Ltd, Warwick Manufacturing
Group centre HVM Catapult, Trelleborg PPL Ltd , Allectra Ltd and GKN Land
Systems
for their low carbon, very-lightweight whole passenger railcar
demonstrator.

Holdtrade Ltd, Transnet, Huddersfield University and HBA Ltd for their radical
freight bogie concept.

Thales and NewRail for their active adhesion monitoring project.

A confidential investment in emissions reduction and fuel efficiency technology.
Applications were assessed on their ability to realise significant improvements and
create benefits for passengers, freight users, train operators, the environment and
supply industry. The judges also considered the international market potential of the
proposals.
David Clarke, Director of the Future Railway Enabling Innovation Team, commented:
‘We are delighted to announce these four investments which bring a mixture of new
technologies and organisations to the UK rail sector. We’re looking forward to the
winners demonstrating their proposals to show how they can deliver a tangible benefit
to both the UK rail sector and to the economy through exports.’
There are a number of challenges under the banner of Future Railway and you can
find out more about via the website: www.futurerailway.org/eit
-Ends-
Enquiries about Radical Train contact:
Media enquiries, please contact the RSSB press office, on
020 3142 5333 / 5332 / 5331 or email pressoffice@rssb.co.uk
For further information on the VLR (Very Light Rail) project please contact Martin
Pemberton via martin.p@tdi.uk.com
For further information on the radical freight bogie project please contact Matt
Burrow via Marcus.Mayers@futurerailway.org
For further information on the low adhesion monitoring project please contact Ben
Pritchard via Ben.Pritchard@thalesgroup.com
Notes to editors:
1. About EIT: The Enabling Innovation team is one of the delivery activities under the Future
Railway umbrella, on behalf of the cross-industry Technical Strategy Leadership Group (TSLG).
The team has been set up by the rail industry to accelerate the uptake of innovation. Our
mission is to offer support to practical cross-industry demonstrator projects, but also seeking
out innovative ideas and proposals from across the industry. Our approach is to: understand
the challenges that industry faces; connect potential innovators with these challenges; and,
where necessary with potential funding. The team is hosted by RSSB, and reports into TSLG,
and is supported by the Rail Delivery Group, RSSB’s Board as well as the Department for
Transport.
2. About Radical Train: The Radical Train project is exploring the potential to develop a new
train which will offer a measurable step change in performance on UK railways and develop
train systems and sub-systems with international market potential. Importantly, there is no set
correct answer for this competition as the outcome of this project could be a whole vehicle
and/or radical developments in major sub systems. The Radical Train challenge is an exciting
opportunity to seek out and demonstrate innovations to the UK railway, proving not only that
the idea can become an innovation but also that there is a real benefit to implementation.
3. About the VLR (Very Light Rail) project: The VLR Consortium is being led by Transport
Design International (TDI) who, since the mid-1980s have been involved in the design of both
heavy and light rail rolling stock for the major train builders, as well as electric vehicles and
automated people movers. TDI is supported by Warwick Manufacturing Group who have
pioneering experience in the light-weighting of automotive body structures for OEMs such as
Jaguar Land Rover; GKN who supply automotive components and engineering resource on a
global scale; Unipart Rail who have one of the largest bogie overhaul centres in Europe and
are industry leaders in management of the rolling stock supply chain, Trelleborg who are leading
the field in the application of low cost track infrastructure and Allectra who are a specialised
engineering company.
The Revolution VLR Consortium is committed to developing and building an affordable low
carbon, lightweight rail vehicle to facilitate low cost connectively of regional and rural areas.
The Consortium believes that such an approach is fundamental to the provision of integrated
and sustainable short range public transport systems both now and in the future. Their project
will demonstrate a next generation of very light-weight railcar (VLR) using hybrid propulsion
technology, coupled with a unique self-powered bogie and modular, composite body shell
design. A key element of the project is to utilise off-the-shelf componentry where practical to
reduce overall manufacturing cost and improve reliability and maintainability. Another aspect of
the research involved is to evaluate the application of existing, essentially ‘heavy rail’, safety
standards to VLR railcars and produce a discussion paper for consideration by the Radical
Train stakeholders.
4. About the radical freight bogie project: Holdtrade leads a consortium of companies who are
developing a radical new concept in freight bogies. A bogie designed to overcome some of the
limitations imposed on freight movement by infrastructure designed in the early 20th century,
without major expense on the infrastructure itself. This light foot print bogie will benefit all freight
railway operations around the world especially railways with low permissible axle loads and
restricted loading gauge. As a result of the project a dedicated bogie design centre will be
created in the UK with outsourced manufacturing capability for the complete range of products
envisaged.
The bogie will benefit operators worldwide by increasing payload, reducing wheel wear,
reducing maintenance and reducing fuel/power consumption and at the same time attract lower
access charges due to lower track forces and reduced rail wear.
5. About the low adhesion monitoring project: The Active Adhesion Monitoring and
Management (A2M2) project demonstrates the use of thermal imaging technology to monitor
rail temperature and adhesion levels across the rail network, increasing safety by identifying
potential locations of low adhesion. The aim is to optimise capacity in systems where dynamic
timetabling is possible. Thales will transfer its world-class capability in military thermal imaging
into the transport sector and work with Newcastle University’s Centre for Railway Research
(NewRail) which has research expertise in wheel-rail interface issues including thermal
modelling and the infamous ‘Leaves on the Line’ low-adhesion problem.
The NewRail team works at both national and international levels, establishing strong research
and consultancy links with railway operators and manufacturers in the UK, throughout Europe
and internationally.