Hydrogen trains, electromagnetic braking system and pandemic-busting innovations win DfT cash

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced the winners of its First of a Kind competition to develop new technology to encourage passengers back to the railway. In total, 30 projects have received a share of a £9M pot to…

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced the winners of its First of a Kind competition to develop new technology to encourage passengers back to the railway.

In total, 30 projects have received a share of a £9M pot to help develop the technology further.

The winners were selected by the DfT in partnership with Innovate UK.

Winners include:

A 360-degree immersive journey planning app, interchangeable train interiors and an app connecting passengers to the world outside their train A system to monitor people flow, congestion points and behaviour at stations, so operators can remove bottlenecks and deploy countermeasures, helping people avoid crowds and restoring passenger confidence in the rail system post COVID-19 A scheme that provides an interchangeable interior train carriage for quick, deep cleaning and allows operators to rejig a trains seating layout at short notice – reacting to demand, keeping passengers safe and freeing up space A project that uses electromagnetism to deliver safe and predictable braking in harsh conditions, while improving acceleration A scheme that aims to deliver a train running on hydrogen and a hydrogen gas blend promising low emissions and an even greener railway Transport secretary Grant Shapps, said: “I am delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 First of a Kind competition. These winners will hopefully play a role in putting passengers at the centre of our railways as we build back better from Covid-19. “The competition always throws up surprises and the ideas shown today could transform how we travel in future.” Innovate UK chief business officer Simon Edmonds said: “As we move ever closer to getting past the pandemic, passengers are returning to the railway. To give them ever greater confidence that rail is safe and sustainable, we called upon UK innovators to come up with fresh ideas. “Yet again the response has been fantastic. Not only will passengers benefit from these great innovations, but business prospects are bright in this sector too.” David Clarke, Technical Director at the Railway Industry Association technical director David Clarke celebrated the announcement. He said: “With the First of a Kind initiative now in its fifth round, we hope that many of these past projects are now being picked up and implemented, for the benefit of passengers and freight users. “Even before the Coronavirus pandemic, it was difficult for innovators to secure support and funding to scale up projects so that they could be ready to deploy on the rail network, but now – when many businesses are facing uncertain times following the pandemic – these businesses must have the support they need. “So we need to ensure there is no hiatus in decision making for the implementation of projects whilst rail revenue recovers. In fact, now is the time to implement these innovations at scale, as we seek to encourage passengers back and spark an economic recovery across the UK.” Like what you’ve read? To receive New Civil Engineer’s daily and weekly newsletters click here.