Adapting to climate change in Japan: a railway perspective

Sarah Greenham, PhD Student in Civil Engineering talks about what we can learn from other countries’ approach to resilience and adaptation. We can already see, as outlined in Rachel Fisher’s blog, some of the impact climate change has on railway networks: rail buckles, landslips and flood damage, to name a few. Facing future climate norms, … Continue reading “Adapting to climate change in Japan: a railway perspective”

High Speed Rail: Education Interchange 2020

Dr Heather Steele talks about High Speed Rail and the importance of Education and Research and our upcoming event. High Speed Rail (HSR) has come to play a vital role in national and international transport. It directly competes with alternative modes including aviation and road; offers socio-economic and environmental benefits through time-savings, safety, comfort, reduction … Continue reading “High Speed Rail: Education Interchange 2020”

The impact of hazardous weather on railway infrastructure pt. 1

  Rachel Fisher, Industrial Liaison Fellow at BCRRE for Remote Sensing and Smart Systems, outlines some of the effects of weather on railways – including covering some of her own PhD study. As a global leader in rail research, BCRRE is well-placed to contribute to the global effort to tackle climate change by reducing carbon … Continue reading “The impact of hazardous weather on railway infrastructure pt. 1”

Destination Decarbonisation Day 3: Innovation

Alex Burrows Director of BCRRE Rail Alliance provides a quick overview on today’s Destination Decarbonisation: Innovation Day, what it involved and covers some of the questions that came in. Today was the third and final day of our Destination Decarbonisation ONference delivered by BCRRE and the Rail Alliance.  Today we were also joined by our … Continue reading “Destination Decarbonisation Day 3: Innovation”

Destination Decarbonisation Day 2: Research and Technology

Following yesterday’s first session of our 3-day Destination Decarbonisation event, which covered the big-picture of policy, funding, demand for decarbonisation technologies, today’s session was all about research and the BCRRE Centre of Excellence in Rail Decarbonisation. It was my pleasure to introduce this Centre of Excellence and its six themes encompassing energy, efficiency, infrastructure and … Continue reading “Destination Decarbonisation Day 2: Research and Technology”

Destination Decarbonisation Day 1: Policy

Alex Burrows, Director of Rail Alliance BCRRE provides a quick snapshot of today’s Destination Decarbonisation: Policy Day and answers a few more questions asked by the audience. We have just delivered the first session of our second edition of the BCRRE Rail Alliance Destination Decarbonisation event that focused on policy.  This was a fascinating session … Continue reading “Destination Decarbonisation Day 1: Policy”

Blockchain Technology for the Rail Industry

Joe Preece, a PhD Researcher at the University of Birmingham, describes how blockchain could make rail supply chains more transparent, thereby enhancing trust in suppliers, and doing this in a cost-effective way. What is a supply chain? A supply chain is the process through which materials and components travel, from production through to sale. It … Continue reading “Blockchain Technology for the Rail Industry”

BCRRE and Rail Alliance promote RSG Coronavirus Taskforce Industry Survey

Alex Burrows Director of BCRRE, the Rail Alliance and representative of the RSG and UKKRIN talks about the importance of the recently launched survey and how your input is most vaulable. The Rail Supply Group (RSG) has launched a survey  seeking the views of businesses across the rail supply industry on the impact of COVID-19 … Continue reading “BCRRE and Rail Alliance promote RSG Coronavirus Taskforce Industry Survey”

A Systems-approach to asset management

Reza Zolfaghari, Senior Technical Officer with the Digi-Rail project and an expert in systems engineering, considers asset management processes and systems. The requirement of modern railway asset management is moving from reactive maintenance, towards smart, proactive and condition-based maintenance which uses data obtained directly from the assets themselves. There is no doubt that technological innovation is … Continue reading “A Systems-approach to asset management”