research, development and innovation - rssb€¦ · chiltern railways will test ... the theme of...

Research, Development and InnovationQuarterly summaryQ2 2016/17

RSSB l RD&I quarterly summary 2

Contents

Customer experience p4-6

• Next evolution in ticketing• TOC’16 Competition• Data to improve the customer experience• Guidance to tackling alcohol misuse

Rolling stock p7-9

• Magnetic track brakes on GB railway• New type of pantograph revealed to industry• Tomorrow’s Train Design Today Competition

Infrastructure p10-12

• New model predicts effects of water on rails• New app for recording platform risk assessments• Remote condition monitoring• Space-based technology

Knowledge, technology,innovation p13

• UK’s Best Young Railway Researcher

Research impact p14

• Driver training• Rail crossings

Social media p15

• RSSB launch Facebook page

People p16

• Fatigue in the rail industry• Industry talent

Awards p17

• Times Higher Education Award• SAGE 2015 Best Paper Prize• IMechE George Stephenson Gold Medal


The Research and Development and Innovation teams at RSSB work to support delivering the vision of the Rail Technical Strategy to improve the railway, while continuing to support the industry by providing solutions to current railway problems and opportunities.

There are currently 109 research and development projects and 42 active innovation programmes, comprising 80 innovator projects at different stages of development and delivery across the two teams, with a further 11 innovator projects currently being negotiated.

The following updates represent a selection of projects in our portfolio.

If you would like to find out more about any individual projects visit www.sparkrail.org and search for a key word or visit RSSB.co.uk

Introduction

Next evolution in ticketing A new app, part-funded through RSSB’s TOC’15 competition, which replaces the need for passengers to hold paper train tickets is to be tested on the route between London Marylebone and Oxford from December 2016.

Chiltern Railways will test Bluetooth technology that detects travellers via their smartphone and automatically deducts the right fares for their journey. The trial will involve about 60 passengers testing hands-free ticketing between five stations: Oxford Parkway, Islip, Bicester Village, Bicester North and London Marylebone. The trial will use ‘beacons’ which register passengers as they step onto a train and exit a station, debiting their bank account accordingly.

The Chiltern trials are being carried out as part of Arriva’s Retrospective Ticket Pricing programme which was one of the winning entries in the TOC’15 competition. Other winners included Govia Thameslink Railway and Great Western Railway.

The competition seeks to provide solutions to the challenges outlined in the Rail Technical Strategy - improving the customer experience, expanding capacity on the line, reducing carbon and minimising costs.

The Train Operator Competition 2016 (TOC’16)TOC’16 is a competition to encourage greater collaboration between TOCs and the supply chain, enabling collaborative partnerships to deliver innovative and inspiring solutions. The theme of the competition is the business challenges which have a direct or indirect benefit to the customer.

The competition launched in May 2016 at an event attended by over 100 delegates and closed for applications on 16 September 2016. Eighteen applications were received in total, double the number received for the TOC’15 competition.

Applications are currently being evaluated and the shortlisted candidates will be invited to present their entries to a panel of judges in early November.

Customer Experience

‘The trial could be the next evolution of rail ticketing and is part of Chiltern’s and parent company Arriva’s commitment to provide the best experience for customers.’Dave Penney, Managing Director, Chiltern Railways


Data to improve the customer experienceFour of the academic feasibility studies awarded funding in the Data to Improve the Customer Experience competition have announced their findings.

The RSSB competition run through RRUKA in collaboration with ATOC offered funding for projects seeking solutions to themes such as accessibility, comfort and security, information technology and data sources. Transforming this understanding into tangible benefits for the rail industry and its customers is the next challenge. RSSB, RRUKA and ATOC are working together to bring representatives from across the industry together to help progress the projects and unlock the true potential of data.

The key findings Development of intelligent predictive models for crowding on trains using data-driven methodologies - The University of Kent

This project developed accurate and practical prediction models for rail crowding using an intelligent data-driven modelling method. The models can be merged into the existing software tools to provide customers with detailed crowd prediction information before they begin their journey helping to support better decision-making.

Integrating data sources to enhance the experience for passengers with special needs and/or disabilities through privacy aware mobile applications - University of Surrey, University of Southampton and Loughborough University

This brought together a range of expertise - including computer science, security and tourism specialists (University of Surrey), transport specialists (University of Southampton) and user-centered design experts (Loughborough University) to investigate how existing and new rail data sources can be used to enhance the passenger experience and provide assistance to passengers with special needs and/or disabilities. Technical prototypes were created, demonstrating how

relevant transport data can be integrated to meet the needs of customers.

Use of passenger loading data to influence behaviour and provide an improved experience for passengers and operators alike - University of Southampton

This sought to prove it is feasible to mitigate crowding by improving information provision and influencing passenger choice to understand how such information should best be presented. Crowded trains can adversely affect the experience of rail passengers. They can also cause practical issues for train operators, especially if slow boarding and alighting at stations makes it more difficult to maintain tight dwell times. The project showed it might be possible to mitigate some of these issues by providing better information to passengers and encouraging them to make different travel choices as a result.

“Shortly arriving at…” Development of an innovative framework for customer-centric rail passenger information applications - Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Edinburgh and University of Manchester

The aim of this project was to enable a transformation of the customer experience through information that is context-centric rather than data-centric. It was led by academic experts in ‘ontologies’, a new approach in computer science and supported by experienced digital developers. The project also involved industry experts from Abellio and Transport for Greater Manchester. The intention is to enable the foundations of an entirely new approach to building software applications that supports customer needs rather than being driven by available data.


Guidance to tackling alcohol misuse RSSB has issued updated guidance for rail companies to help them manage the risks to personal safety and security from alcohol. Aimed at a range of staff including safety directors and station managers, the ‘Managing alcohol risks to personal safety and security on the railway’ guide includes new case studies and links to relevant resources, organisations and websites, to help industry develop a more coordinated approach.

Intoxication has partly been to blame for causing two in every three (66%) of the 32 deaths that have occurred at the platform edge in the past 10 years. Research also shows that 40% of passengers assaulted or abused on Britain’s railways believe their assailant was intoxicated. On average staff believe that approximately 60% of assaults (of all types) experienced were alcohol-related.

The updated guide, built on solid research, details the tactical measures duty holders can take to reduce the number of accidents taking place at the platform edge.

The guide is available on the RSSB website, to view please go to http://www.rssb.co.uk/Library/improving-industry-performance/2016-09-guidance-managing-alcohol-risks.pdf

‘Our challenge is to protect the health and welfare of passengers who have consumed alcohol as well as protecting front line staff and other passengers from anti-social or criminal behaviour where alcohol is the inflammatory factor.’

Allan Spence, Chairman of the Platform Train Interface (PTI) Strategy Implementation Group

Magnetic track brakes on GB railwayThis project, carried out by Ricardo Rail, established an economic case for full-fleet fitting of magnetic track brakes (MTB) as standard on all new rolling stock builds for GB mainline rail.

Magnetic track brakes are a form of brake mounted on the vehicle bogie frame between the wheels. When the brake is lowered to contact the rail, a magnetic clamping force generates friction between the magnetic track brake and the rail decelerating the train.

Sponsored by the Adhesion Research Group, the research demonstrated that there is both a technical and economic case for fitment of MTBs. Generally MTBs are compatible with GB mainline rail infrastructure, with the exception of some specific asset conditions including only being used in emergency braking scenarios and not repeatedly used in the same location.

They are already used extensively in mainland Europe including in the UK on Nexus (formerly the Tyne and Wear Metro) and Manchester Metrolink, which both operate in part over Network Rail managed infrastructure.

The findings of the project has formed the basis of the development of a new Railway Industry Standard on system compatibility issues, which will help support wider use of this proven technology.

New type of pantograph revealed to industryBrecknell Willis has developed a new type of closed loop pantograph after receiving a £300 innovation grant from RSSB.

Pantographs (the mechanical arms attached to the roof of electric trains) are vital in ensuring continued power to the engine from the wires, called overhead line equipment (OLE).

The cutting-edge equipment measures contact with the OLE and automatically adjusts to ensure ‘optimised current collection’. Sensors at the head of the pantograph constantly monitors the surrounding infrastructure providing data to determine maintenance requirements for both the rolling stock and the OLE.

Brecknell Willis collaborated with City University London to develop the prototype pantograph, and received additional funding from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council.

Rolling stock

‘With increasing train speeds and a planned programme of route electrification, this timely innovation will help increase reliability for passengers, rolling stock and infrastructure providers.’Neil Webster, Innovation Programme Director, RSSB

‘This is an exciting opportunity to develop a key product and demonstrates our ability to work in a cross-industry team to produce innovative products that can benefit the industry.’Lee Brun, Engineering and Development Manager, Brecknell Willis


Tomorrow’s Train Design Today Competition The Tomorrow’s Train Design Today competition is looking to develop new design solutions for adjustable interiors and improved trains on the network. The competition aims to build on the industry’s strategy for rolling stock, as set out in the 2012 Rail Technical Strategy - creating a ‘design focused response’ to the challenges of increasing vehicle fleet size and capacity over the next 30 years.

Ten projects were taken to the feasibility stage, with three now in demonstration looking at flexible seating (Priestman Goode), adaptable carriage design for both passengers and freight (42 Technology), and double -deck trains (Andreas Vogler) for the UK network.

In September, Priestman Goode and Andreas Vogler both show-cased their full-scale designs at Innotrans 2016 - one of the world’s leading trade fairs for transport technology. In 2014, Innotrans held over 2,700 exhibitors from 55 countries and attracted over 130,000 visitors from 146 countries.

This year’s event was a huge success with interest shown from not only the GB exhibitors and innovators but also from guests around the world.


New model predicts the effect of water on railsA model has been developed to predict the effect of ‘wet-rail’ in the wheel and rail contact area.

The creation of the WILAC (Water Induced Low Adhesion Creep Force) model will help the industry to formulate strategies for avoiding and mitigating the impact of low adhesion caused by water.

Previous research has identified a large proportion of low adhesion incidents occurred when there was no visible leaf contamination and were likely caused by small amounts of water often occurring around the morning and evening dew points - hence the term ‘wet-rail.’

The model is adaptable and scalable and has indicated that:

• Low adhesion conditions are mainly a phenomenon of boundary lubrication between wheel and rail due to contaminants such as wear debris, iron oxides and leaves. The amount of water in the interface is similar to that expected in light drizzle conditions in the field.

• A very small number of conditions (for oxide water mixture proportions, surface roughness and third body layer thickness) exists where low adhesion conditions could occur.

• The amount of water on the railhead is dependent on factors other than weather conditions. Temperature effects from convection and radiation can significantly change the amount of water present on the rail head.

In the longer term, the model could inform the design of braking systems which are more capable of maintaining function in low adhesion conditions.

New app for recording platform risk assessmentsRSSB’s new Platform Train Interface (PTI) Risk Assessment Tool is a web-based and mobile application available to download in Google Play and the App Store allowing users to complete assessments on the platform in real time.

The use of web-based technologies allows for the inclusion of data from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and the Safety Management Intelligence System (SMIS) along with the ability to upload information and generate the PTI report.

In addition, mobile applications for iOS and Android tablets have been developed specifically to allow data collection off-line (on the station platform). This allows assessments to be completed on-site taking a collaborative approach. Once the on-site data collection has been completed the tablet can download the data to the tool using a Wi-Fi connection.

Last year, nearly 1,500 incidents took place at the edge of railway station platforms. Most end up causing only minor injuries, but improving the way data about these incidents is taken into account in risk assessments could help to reduce the number of people being hurt while using the rail network. Traditionally risk assessments have been carried out as a paper–based exercise with no commonality and little sharing of information.

Infrastructure

Remote Condition MonitoringRemote Condition Monitoring (RCM) is already widely used on both trains and rail infrastructure and is recognised as key to improving efficiency, health, safety, commercial and operational performance of the railway.

Through a collaborative programme, RSSB and Network Rail is overseeing the development of 24 innovation feasibility studies diversified across nine challenge areas. These include flood warning, embankment instability and monitoring of crack propagation and voids. The programme has entered the final phases of delivery opening up a platform for accelerating innovation.

Seventeen projects have successfully delivered feasibility studies so far with the remaining projects due to complete between October 2016 and March 2017.

The next step is for industry to develop potential demonstrators for further application across the wider UK and international network.

Space-based technology RSSB is working with The Satellite Applications Catapult, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Integrated Applications Programme and Innovate UK on programmes to accelerate innovation in the Rail industry.

Two of these projects, jointly funded by ESA and RSSB, have produced feasibility studies. Remote line blockage detection which is aimed at using satellites to detect line blockages, and unmanned aerial vehicle which focuses on inspecting railway infrastructure using autonomous aerial drones.

The deployment of light autonomous aerial drones, operating beyond visual line of sight for surveillance and inspection can provide considerable cost savings and significant improvements in performance over today’s helicopter or foot methods. The system has the potential to exploit integrated space-based technology including precision GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), satellite communications and earth observation including satellite weather information.

RSSB, ESA and Network Rail are encouraging the innovators to take the technology to demonstrator level.


UK’s Best Young Railway ResearcherThe Rail Research UK Association (RRUKA) and IMechE Railway Division have joined forces for the third time to find the UK’s Best Young Railway Researcher.

Open to young rail professionals and early career researchers, this annual award celebrates the work of a single individual and the contribution they are making towards their organisation and the industry as a whole.

RRUKA is working to support the drive to nurture young talent in the rail industry and taking part in the competition provides individuals with an opportunity to raise their profile within the UK rail research community, increase awareness of their research and provides a platform for reaching senior academics, key industry figures and decision makers.

As well as the cash prize of £1000 the winner will be presented with a commemorative trophy, and have a dedicated slot at RRUKA’s Annual Conference due to take place on 3 November in London.

There are still spaces available for industry representatives to attend the annual conference, please register now at http://www.rruka.org.uk/events/rruka-annual-conference-2016/

Knowledge, technology and innovation


Here are two examples of research making a difference to the rail industry -

Driver training South West Trains (SWT) have given the green light to commence the second trial of RSSB’s Driver Training course.

The pilot will deliver training to the requirements of the Train Driver Licensing Directive (TDLD) and the UK Train Driver Licences and Certification Regulations (TDLCR) 2010.

RSSB has worked collaboratively with South West Trains to support the change process, programme design and upskilling of facilitators to deliver the RSSB course. The course material is delivered using a virtual learning environment with the material managed and updated centrally by RSSB.

SWT are seeking to improve the end-to-end learning experience and with the aim of delivering eight fully productive drivers at the end of the pilot. This will require delegates to learn core routes as part of the practical handling as they accrue the minimum practical hours.

The pilot will run from the 7th September 2016 through to July 2017 and be hosted at SWT’s Operations Training Centre in Basingstoke.

Rail crossingsNetwork Rail have started using the decision support tool, created as part of an RSSB research project to help find optimal solutions for crossings being assessed as part of the Ferriby to Gilberdyke re-signalling project.

The tool from Assessing and reducing the risk at railway signals protecting level crossings (T1007) has been approved for use across Network Rail, and will be rolled out on the wider network providing time and cost savings.

Research impact

RSSB launch Facebook page By raising our profile on the world’s most popular social network, RSSB hopes to make more of its content accessible and shareable among those who work in or are interested in the industry. RSSB’s core purpose is about bringing the rail industry together and by extending this to Facebook, we hope to connect our work to wider audiences across the industry.

Please visit our Facebook page @RSSB.Rail.

Social media

‘We want to make the work RSSB does more accessible to those who maybe already know some of our work but perhaps don’t get to see the range of what we do, or may not have ever had the opportunity to talk to us. So this is a great listening opportunity for us too, and the chance to get more feedback when people like, share or comment on our posts.’John Abbott, Director of External Engagement, RSSB

Social media

Fatigue in the rail industryThe consequences of operational staff working while fatigued can be significant. RSSB has recently undertaken research and published three reports to help the industry and its staff to tackle fatigue.

Research into fitness for duty checks and predicting the likelihood of experiencing fatigueMitigating fatigue risk through fitness for duty checks is a genuine challenge, and it can be very difficult to predict the fitness of individuals presenting themselves for work. This project has provided valuable insight into what industry requires from a tool to assess fatigue levels in relation to fitness for duty.

Preparing rail industry guidance on bio-mathematical fatigue modelsMany rail companies use fatigue assessment tools, based on mathematical models, to assess likely staff fatigue. This research compares how well each predicts fatigue and through new guidance enables the rail industry to better roster shifts in relation to the risks of worker fatigue in different shifts.

Preparing guidance on fatigue control options for first night shiftsThis research provides guidance to help frontline staff and organisations reduce the risks related to first night shift fatigue, which requires a change in sleeping pattern.

RSSB will be presenting these projects at an RSSB human factors conference in November.

Industry talent attractionThe RSSB knowledge and technology transfer service supports the cross-industry research, development and innovation programmes and carries out knowledge searches, including technology and horizon scanning, for RSSB members and other key industry players.

This knowledge search was conducted to inform a future NSAR strategy, to identify transferable best practices in industries or sectors that are successful in promoting their industry image to job candidates. It found that in a context of growing skills shortage and ‘war for talent’ between recruiters, companies that are successful in attracting candidates spend effort and resources on ‘employer branding.’

Among identified best practices are promoting diversity and gender equality, showing industry role models, extending outreach programmes (industry ambassadors) and using digital and social media.

The most successful employers have invested in digital media technologies and are using them to recruit. They advertise their innovative work and have deployed highly targeted local strategies, targeting candidate values and relating to them. Although values vary greatly by region and by sector, all studies of candidate behaviour found a common thread - the wish to have purposeful work and to have an impact on the world they live in.

People


RSSB shortlisted for Times Higher Education AwardRSSB has been nominated for a Times Higher Education Award, in the category of Most Innovative Contribution to Business-University Collaboration, for work carried out with the University of Huddersfield as part of a strategic research partnership.

The University of Huddersfield and RSSB signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2013, agreeing to pool resources and talent for research into system and engineering risk modelling to support informed decision making and future risk prediction.

The nomination highlighted a number of successful partnership projects, such as the development of a model to optimise train braking in low adhesion conditions.

The winners will be announced on Thursday 24 November 2016 at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

RSSB awarded prizes for DynoTRAINPapers written as part of the RSSB DynoTRAIN (a TrioTRAIN project) - Railway Vehicle Dynamics and Track Interactions: Total Regulatory Acceptance for the Interoperable Network (T888) have won two prestigious prizes.

• The SAGE 2015 Best Paper Prize, was awarded by the Editor and Editorial Board of the Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, for the article ‘Validation of simulation models in the context of railway vehicle acceptance’

• The ImechE George Stephenson Gold Medal was awarded to Bridget Eickhoff, Principal Infrastructure Engineer, RSSB, for the paper ‘Track loading limits and cross-acceptance of vehicle approvals

Awards

‘The strategic partnership between the University of Huddersfield and RSSB has been built on the shared vision to practically implement research findings, in order to help the railway industry reduce costs and effectively manage safety risk. The work of the partnership over the past 2 years has developed new techniques, tools and skills to support this vision, paving the way to tangible and implementable benefits.’George Bearfield, Director of System Safety, RSSB

Bridget Eickhoff, Principal Infrastructure Engineer, RSSB


Email [email protected] +44 (0) 20 3142 5300Twitter @RSSB_railWeb www.rssb.co.uk

RSSB

The Helicon

One South Place

London EC2M 2RB

research, development and innovation - rssb€¦ · chiltern railways will test ... the theme of...

Documents