Project aims to boost UK rail innovation

The Radical Train project, part of the Future Railways Programme, will be managed by engineering consultancy Frazer-Nash on behalf of the Enabling Innovation Team (EIT), a body established by the rail industry to accelerate and entrench innovation in the sector.

The project will lead to a Radical Train Demonstrator and is calling for proposals from industry that will show how a significant step change in the performance of trains on UK railways can be made, and to develop train systems and sub-systems with export potential.

One of Frazer-Nash’s tasks will be look at the impact of the idea relative to the cost of developing the tech demonstrator.

Richard Jones, business manager for Rail at Frazer-Nash, stressed, however, that the project is not looking for solutions that are currently, or are close to being, market ready.

‘What we are looking for is technologies that will transform trains, something that is truly radical,’ explained Jones. ‘We’re talking about physical artefacts, or even computer models, that are inspirational and help people to understand and believe that the industry can step forward and use [for example] new materials, or new ways of deploying those materials that aren’t apparently possible in the industry at the moment.’