The impact of new materials on the
whole-life cost of railway assets
Research Funding: Call for Full Proposals
Intent to submit deadline: 16:00, 4 September 2014
Deadline for applications: 16:00, 9 October 2014
Introduction
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Department
for Transport (DfT) and Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) have in place a
strategic partnership to jointly support high quality research to face some of the
most pressing challenges to the rail industry in Great Britain.
Under this partnership, funding is available to support cutting-edge, novel
academic research on new materials that can reduce the whole-life costs of
railway assets.
This call contains the following information:
•Background
•Objectives
•Scope
•Funding
• Assessment Criteria
•Eligibility
• Application Procedure
• Proposal Format
• Further Information
• Additional Grant Conditions
• Call Schedule
• Contact details
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Background
Innovative solutions to extend asset lifecycles and strengthen them for increased
capacity are needed to meet planned increases in railway demand. Novel
materials applications could potentially offer a more sustainable and cost effective
approach to asset management. The UK rail industry spends billions of pounds
annual renewing, installing and maintaining assets. Labour intensive maintenance
regimes, ageing assets and increases in traffic and loads from both passenger
and freight trains create asset management challenges that are unique to the rail
industry.
The Rail Technical Strategy 2012 sets out the vision for both infrastructure and
rolling stock assets to deliver higher performance and greater reliability for a
reduced whole life cost. New materials are recognised as being a contributor
towards achievement of this vision1. The Academic Response to the Rail Technical
Strategy supports this, for example highlighting the potential for new materials to
address longstanding issues at the wheel-rail interface2.
The National Infrastructure Plan 20133 sets out the government’s long term
strategy for delivering infrastructure improvements in the UK. Long-term
investment in railways is at the heart of this growth plan, demonstrated by
financial commitments to projects such as Crossrail, the Northern Line Extension
to Battersea and the introduction of High Speed 2. For fixed infrastructure assets
total annual expenditure for asset enhancement, maintenance and renewal
amount to approximately £4.8 billion pounds. This includes asset replacement
and enhancement of tracks, signalling, power, telecom and station assets. The
acquisition of new trains for new lines, as well as increases to existing fleets, will
lead to the introduction of over 13,000 new electric vehicles over the next 30
years.
Plans to increase the capacity of the railway will result not only in the purchase
and installation of new assets, but in the increased usage and wear of existing
assets. Components will need to be reliable and maintainable, while minimising
whole life costs.
RTS 2.55 highlights the role of new materials in infrastructure assets. RTS 1.106 states one example of how new materials could
affect rolling stock design
2
The Academic response to the Rail Technical Strategy 2012, published November 2013 by RRUKA.
3
National Infrastructure Plan 2013, published December 2013 by HM Treasury
1
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The Technology Strategy Board Enabling Technologies Strategy4 highlights
advanced materials are one of the four enabling technologies that has a key role
to play in helping to address some of the high level challenges facing this
country’s transport industry. There have been considerable advancements in
materials science in the past decade that have not been fully considered by the
rail industry. Examples of materials that could be used to make lighter, stronger,
more intelligent railway assets include, but are not limited to:
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Materials for lighter and stronger structures and components
Materials with improved mechanical properties (e.g. resistance against
corrosion, no need for paint, lightness, strength, durability)
Self-healing materials for more durable rail assets
Self-monitoring materials for optimised maintenance
Materials for energy storage and energy harvesting
EPSRC, DfT and RSSB welcome innovative solutions to tackle these problems
from academic parties, including those not traditionally associated with rail research.
Objectives
The objective of this call is to establish a number of cross-disciplinary consortia to
conduct research into novel applications for materials to reduce whole life asset
costs. The application of new materials could benefit railway assets in the
following areas:
• Capital cost of assets – where new materials achieve lower costs by increased
functionality at comparable cost or same functionality at lower cost
• Renewal of assets – where new materials positively impact frequency and/or
required extent of renewal of assets changes, lowering the overall cost
• Maintenance of assets – where new materials enable to reduce the frequency
or costs of inspection and maintenance activities.
• Improved resilience and performance – where new materials deliver benefits
to system performance, particularly increase reliability, which outweighs any
increase in costs.
• The exploitation of materials with non-standard properties.
Research proposals could focus on one ore more of these areas. Proposals may
also encompass other approaches not listed above. This will require the formation
of well managed, cohesive and sustainable research teams to develop solutions.
Applicant teams should present a research vision and management structure that
will maximise the impact of their solutions.
4
TSB Enabling technologies - Strategy 2012-15, published November 2012 by The Technology Strategy Board.
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Scope of the Call
Proposals for research projects should be primarily concerned with the railway
engineering research challenges and look to address areas raised within the
background and objectives sections. The technology-based content of the
projects and their outputs are required to sit within Technology Readiness Level
1-3 (basic principles; technology concepts; analytical studies), commensurate
with the role of the Research Councils in funding technology development.
Funding
Up to £2 million has been earmarked for this targeted activity. It is anticipated
that we will fund 3 to 4 proposals (in the region of £500-800k).
Assessment Criteria
EPSRC reserves the right to reject proposals, without reference to peer review,
which are deemed to fall outside the remit of this call. You are advised to contact
EPSRC if you are unsure whether your proposal would be suitable for this call.
Proposals will be assessed through external peer review followed by a panel
meeting and conducted using the following criteria:
• Quality of research, including
◦ research vision, ambition and adventure
◦ novelty, relationship to the context, and timeliness of proposed research
◦ appropriateness of proposed technical approach and likelihood of success
• Relevance to the objectives of the call of the research, in particular
◦ Focus on the applications of new materials to reduce whole life costs of
railway assets.
◦ level of engagement with appropriate parts of the rail industry
• Potential research impact, including
◦ relevance and appropriateness of any beneficiaries or collaborators
◦ plans for dissemination and knowledge exchange
◦ approach to achieving successful take-up of the outputs by the rail industry
• Ability of applicant team to deliver the research, including
◦ track record of lead investigators
◦ balance of skills of the project team
• Resources and management, including
◦ effectiveness of planning and resource management strategy
◦ appropriateness of resources requested
• Cost Effectiveness
The assessment panel will be made up of approximately 50% academic and
50% rail industry representatives.
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Eligibility
For information on the eligibility of organisations and individuals to receive
EPSRC funding, see the EPSRC Funding Guide:
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/files/funding/how-to-apply/fundingroutes/fundingguide/
As this call is a targeted funding opportunity provided by EPSRC, higher
education institutions, and some research council institutes and independent
research organisations are eligible to apply. A list of eligible organisations to
apply to EPSRC is provided at:
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/funding/eligibilityforrcs/
Application Procedure
All applications will need to complete an intent to submit web form found on the
call page http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/newmaterials/ by 16:00 on 4
September 2014.
Full submissions that have not submitted an intent to submit form will be
rejected.
Assessment will follow a standard full proposal format. Full proposals should be
submitted by the indicated deadline and will be assessed via external peer
review followed by a panel meeting comprised of both Academic and Industry
members.
Submitting application
You should prepare and submit your proposal using the Research Councils’ Joint
electronic Submission (Je-S) System (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/).
When adding a new proposal, you should select:
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Council ‘EPSRC’
Document type ‘Standard Proposal’
Scheme ‘Standard’
On the Project Details page you should select the ‘New Materials for Rail’ call.
Note that clicking ‘submit document’ on your proposal form in Je-S initially
submits the proposal to your host organisation’s administration, not to EPSRC.
Please allow sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process between
submitting your proposal to them and the call closing date. EPSRC must receive
your application by 16:00 on 9 October 2014.
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Guidance on the types of support that may be sought and advice on the
completion of the research proposal forms are given on the EPSRC website
(http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/guidance/) which should be consulted when
preparing all proposals.
Proposal Format
The following documents should be submitted along with the standard Joint
Electronic Submission (Je-S) form:
1 Case for support
The case for support should be up to 8 pages in total, to include:
• Two-page track record, which should detail the relevant expertise that each
investigator will bring to the research programme. For the Principal Investigator,
there should be evidence of leadership and management skills.
• Maximum six-page description of the proposed programme of research,
including a clear statement of the research vision and methodology to achieve
that vision, plans for management of the consortia and project resources.
2 Pathways to Impact
Up to two pages, this document should describe who may benefit from the
research, how they may benefit and what will be done to make sure they have
the opportunity to benefit, including a high-level identification of the next steps
envisaged once the project is successfully completed.
Projects that demonstrate that they meet the required level of development for
trials and demonstrations may be eligible for further funding through Future
Railways.
3 National Importance
Describe the extent to which, over the long term, the research proposed will
contribute towards the scope of the call. Also consider other areas to which the
proposed work will contribute and how it will do this. Further guidance on the
National Importance section can be found at:
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/guidance/preparing/Pages/
includingnationalimportance.aspx
4 Justification of Resources
Applications must include a breakdown of costing (including staff costs, travel,
subsistence and consumables; any in-kind or cash contributions from partners or
collaborators should also be noted), at 80% FEC.
A two page justification of resources should be provided, giving a narrative
description of the need for the resources requested.
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5 Work plan
This should be a Gantt chart for the whole time of the project including
appropriate milestones, and should and refer to the management strategy to be
used to guide the direction of the research.
Further Information
We will be holding an information day on Thursday 11 September at the RSSB
offices in Islington, London, for those interested in responding to this call. The
open day will run from 12:00 till 15:30 and will include:
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Background information
Vision and objectives of the call
Eligibility and funding restrictions
Assessment criteria
The event will give the opportunity to build links with the researchers in different
disciplines in order to form new research consortia. There will be an opportunity
to ask any questions you might have about this activity. If you would like to
attend please register your interest by emailing Sharon.Odetunde@rssb.co.uk by
17:00 on 29 August 2014 at the latest. We would particularly like to encourage
potential applicants with non-rail backgrounds to attend this meeting. Whilst it is
strongly advised that those wishing to apply to the call attend the information day,
it is not a formal requirement for applicants. Further details of this event will be
provided to registered attendees in due course.
Call Schedule
Activity
Date
Intent to submit
16:00 on 4 September 2014
Call closes
16:00 on 9 October 2014
Sift Panel
Week commencing 9 February 2015
Funding Decision
Week commencing 16 February 2015
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Contact Details
If you have any questions regarding the call then please contact either;
Alex Broomsgrove
Engineering Portfolio Manager, EPSRC
Phone: 01793 444223
Email: Alexander.Broomsgrove@epsrc.ac.uk
or
Sharon Odetunde
Senior Partnership Development Manager, RSSB
Email: Sharon.odetunde@rssb.co.uk
If you experience difficulties using Je-S or have questions regarding its use, please
contact the helpdesk on:
Email: JeSHelp@rcuk.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0) 1793 44 4164
Please contact your organisation’s research office for help with the application
process. Allow enough time before the closing date for your organisation’s
submission process.
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Rail Safety and Standards Board Limited Registered Ofiice: RSSB Block 2 Angel Square 1 Torrens Street London EC1V 1NY Registered In England 04655675