Project targets efficiency gains on the tracks

Such an advance would see instant safety alerts sent from the track and further benefits are anticipated with cost savings and efficiency gains.

The Institute of Railway Research (IRR), headed by Prof Simon Iwnicki, is based at the University and is one of the partners in a €15m, four-year project funded by the European Union under its Seventh Framework Programme.

Named Capacity4Rail, the scheme aims to ensure that railways will continue to meet Europe’s transport needs over coming decades. Low maintenance infrastructure, more resilient and easily repairable points – or switches – and higher-speed freight vehicles are among the goals. 

There are 47 partners with Huddersfield’s IRR concentrating on a work package entitled ‘modular integrated design of new concepts for infrastructure’. ‌

One of the IRR’s tasks will be to help in the development and design requirements of new track systems.  

In a statement, the institute’s head of research, Dr Yann Bezin, said: ‘We will be looking at more efficient designs and methods of building a track, in a modular way rather than by laying down ballast layers and then individual sleepers and putting the rails on top.  That takes a long time and requires very expensive and heavy machinery.  Modular concepts allow track to be brought pre-assembled in sections for a quick installation.