Supply Chain Opportunities and Challenges

Rachel Eade MBE, FRSA, Supply Chain Lead for BCRRE and Senior Technical Officer with the Digi-Rail project, continues sharing her thoughts on some of the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown on the SME community. During this difficult period we at BCRRE, incorporating the BCRRE Rail Alliance and the Digi-Rail project, have been able to continue … Continue reading “Supply Chain Opportunities and Challenges”

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Weathering climate change with resilient railways

Our fifth rail decarbonisation blog comes from Dr Andrew Quinn who explains where climate change and railway resilience fit into the decarbonising agenda. Thanks go to Rachel Fisher for her contributions. You may remember the dramatic image of suspended railway track after the supporting structure was washed away in February 2014 along the infamous Dawlish … Continue reading “Weathering climate change with resilient railways”

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Power electronics for energy conversion and efficiency

Dr Pietro Tricoli writes about his work in power electronics and how it plays its part in the decarbonisation agenda. If you think about rail decarbonisation you’re likely to think, “Electric trains.” You will have read in this blog series that we need the right amount of the right kind of electricity to power our … Continue reading “Power electronics for energy conversion and efficiency”

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Decarbonising the railway using sustainable infrastructure and asset management

Decarbonisation is not just about electrifying the network. The railway infrastructure is a significant proportion of rail’s carbon footprint and provides us with rich pickings for improvements including choice of: lower-Carbon materials and designs; managing assets more effectively; using AI and data science to underpin decision-making; applying whole-systems-thinking to the railway. Here are some of … Continue reading “Decarbonising the railway using sustainable infrastructure and asset management”

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Not feeling the pressure with aerodynamic research at BCRRE!

Here at BCRRE one of our best-established themes of research is in aerodynamics. Aerodynamic research is led by Dr David Soper, Lecturer in Vehicle Aerodynamics, and is one of the topics within the Decarbonisation theme. Why is aerodynamics important? The movement of a train creates a complex aerodynamic flow field around the vehicle. The force … Continue reading “Not feeling the pressure with aerodynamic research at BCRRE!”

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BCRRE Rail Decarbonisation Week

Alex Burrows, Director of BCRRE, introduces BCRRE’s Rail Decarbonisation week Last week, with all of the other news going on, many will have missed the UK Government’s policy paper, Decarbonising Transport: Setting the Challenge that sets out the Department for Transport’s strategy for developing their Transport Decarbonisation Plan which will be published later in 2020.  … Continue reading “BCRRE Rail Decarbonisation Week”

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Self-adjusting railway track switches – reducing journey delays and maintenance costs

Research on self-adjusting railway track switch could reduce both journey delays and maintenance costs This research was conducted by Dr Saikat Dutta, Professor Roger Dixon and colleagues from Loughborough University. The railways have been through major innovations in the past two centuries. Despite frequent ground-breaking innovations, regular commuters are more commonly concerned about frequent delays. These … Continue reading “Self-adjusting railway track switches – reducing journey delays and maintenance costs”

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