Department For Transport
- self-charging trains and pioneering batteries among projects to be funded by Department for Transport
- cutting edge innovation will create the trains of tomorrow leading to a greener, cost-effective railway
- government committed to supporting UK ideas and design, improving our railways and leading the world in innovation
Self-charging trains could make their way onto Britains railways, transforming the future of transport after receiving government funding.
Top innovators and inventers have won prize money to bring their innovations to life, as part of the First of a Kind 2022 competition. This years competition, in partnership with Innovate UK, focused on new concepts that will transform rail travel for passengers and decarbonising the network.
FOAK 2022 saw 24 innovators receive a share of more than 5 million with grants of up to 400,000 each. From technology making our railways greener than ever before by removing harmful emissions from train exhausts to research into powering our railways with renewable energy, this years successful bidders will revolutionise the future of train travel for generations to come.
Transport Secretary, Mark Harper said:
The UK has a long history of leading the way in railway innovation and the First of a Kind competition is getting the great brains of today to create the trains of tomorrow.
Through millions of pounds worth of government funding, we are breathing life into ideas that will revolutionise our railways and make them greener than ever before.
This is just the beginning and, as Transport Secretary, I am determined to support British innovation and create a cutting edge, green rail industry that delivers even more benefits for passengers and freight.
Mike Biddle, Executive Director for Net Zero at Innovate UK, said:
The innovations funded through this competition will help to deliver a greener, lower-emissions railway carrying increasingly higher proportions of the UKs freight.
Delivered by Innovate UK, on behalf of the Department for Transport through the Small Business Research Initiative, it seeks the best and brightest ideas.
Companies from all over the UK have demonstrated the quality of their innovations in previous rounds of this scheme. Now we will support even more innovations to help deliver a greener railway that benefits passengers, employees and customers for rail freight.
This years winners include:
Varamis who, working closely with DHL and Fedex, are revolutionising parcel delivery in the UK by repurposing former passenger carriages and putting rail right at the heart of the online shopping boom to create high-speed, non-letter delivery services.
Echion Technologies, another successful bidder, is developing batteries that will charge from overhead wires and use that charge to leapfrog across unelectrified section of track and, effectively, create self-charging trains truly, the first of a kind.
Thales Ground Transportation Systems have developed new sensors which will detect people approaching tracks, pin down their location, and give an early warning to staff lifesaving technology that will reduce disruption and could act as suicide intervention or even stop protestors getting on the tracks.
Other winning projects include:
- automatic systems that detect and stop track flooding
- cutting edge electric drivetrains that replace polluting diesel engines
- new tech to instantly relay track information to improve and modernise rail safety
Winners with a track record of success will have the opportunity to progress for further funding next year as projects move from concepts to realisation.
The First of a Kind competition has already helped launch over 100 projects that are having a transformative effect across the entire industry. Previous winners have included Riding Sunbeams, which power railways with sunlight, and 4Silences sound bending walls which cancel out noise pollution from the railway.
Rail Freight winners
Decarbonising Auxiliary Load in Freight Today
Lead organisation: G-Volution Ltd
Project grant: 378,513
Working with COLAS Rail, the team will demonstrate high energy-density fuel cells and a carbon neutral bio-liquid petroleum gas fuel system to power auxiliary electric power requirements which account for up to 10-15% of the total power demand on freight trains, covering engine and traction motor cooling, safety and signalling systems and locomotive control systems. This will remove the need for diesel powertrains to remain powered up or idling during dwell times, which can cause up to 20% of freight locomotive fuel consumption and emissions.
Levelling up Freight
Lead organisation: 3squared Ltd
Project grant: 393,271
Working with OpenTrainTimes, Pragmatex, Network Rail, Eddie Stobart and Solent Stevedores, an innovative freight planning solution (PathPlanner) will improve the planning process to reduce the time required to find new freight paths (slots in the timetable which can accept a freight train) into and out of their port at Southampton, thus increasing capacity and allowing the transfer of containers from HGVs to trains.
Transforming high-speed rail logistics
Lead organisation: Varamis Ltd
Project grant: 396,467
Working with Steer, Eversholt Rail, FedEx, Network Rail and DHL, the team will transform high-speed rail logistics combining a repurposed all electric passenger unit with adapted containerised consignment devices to support the conveyance of parcels, which is new to rail. This technology, offering a new approach to using space at stations to create easily accessible city-centre distribution hubs, will enable the operation of a new high-speed non-letters parcels service.
Automating freight access rights management and spot bidding using novel and modern software to drive modal shift from road to rail
Lead organisation: Hack Partners Ltd
Project grant: 322,420
Supported by Great British Railways Transition Team and Network Rail, the project will focus on giving freight teams a bespoke and novel system that will automatically calculate conflicts in access rights against the timetable and real-world operational working and enable freight operators to spot bid for access to the rail system.
Freight Skate a self-powered freight bogie and platform
Lead organisation: TDI (Europe) Ltd
Project grant: 400,000
Working with LB Foster, GB Freight and Eversholt Rail Group (ERG), the team will design and manufacture a self-powered semi-autonomous bogie which will improve operating flexibility as it can move 1 or 20 containers, operated by 1 person, who can then divide and track the containers to different locations, saving time, reducing noise pollution, and improve air quality both within the terminal and in the wider community.
A rapidly deployable rail stress sensor for next generation freight monitoring
Lead organisation: Peak to Peak Measurement Solutions Ltd
Project grant: 264,749
With support from the University of Sheffield, UniPart Rail, KT Precision Engineering Ltd, PCB Train, Techni Measure Ltd and Murgitroyd, European Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, National Research Council Canada, LB Foster Rail Technologies, the team aims to further develop and demonstrate a small under-rail sensor that reports key rail and freight vehicle operating parameters with system benefits such as reducing possession duration, reducing inspection/maintenance downtime and providing rail operators with easy access to the data streams.
Low emissions and a greener railway winners
ECML Net Zero Traction Decarbonisation Demonstration
Lead organisation: Siemens Mobility Ltd
Project grant: 59,983
Working with British Solar Renewables, University of York, Network Rail, DB Schenker, and East Coast Mainline operators, the project will provide the research, development and pilot for installation and testing of a prototype converter on the East Coast Mainline, making renewable energy compatible with powering UK railways.