Innovation
In any industry, research and development is a costly process and this is especially true for the rail freight industry where production runs are relatively small, margins tight and stringent safety regulations apply.
Developing new ideas, methods of working and challenging traditional views is necessary in any industry to keep in step with increasing demands from customers and to remain competitive.
Railfreight is no different.
During 1999 the SRA launched the first innovation competition, making £6m available to bring companies together and in consortia develop ‘Innovative Solutions for Rail Based Logistics’. The remit went beyond funding studies and research papers, instead encouraging the physical development of ideas and concepts to commercial trial stage.
There were three winners:
Blue Circle Intermodal Project
Blue Circle (now Lafarge), Babcock Engineering and Feldbinder proposal to develop a new type of rail wagon and road tanker trailer to allow piggyback movement of product from Blue Circle cement works to customers in the UK allowing Blue Circle to reduce reliance on remote silos and strip out cost from their distribution operation as a result.
Freight Multiple Unit
Exel, AMEC SPIE Rail and Isotrack proposal to develop a railfreight product more appropriate for the logistics industry using track and trace technology, short engineering trains (FMU’s) with acceleration and speed characteristics similar to passenger services and less reliance on full train payloads.
Minimodal
Minimodal, DRS and TDG proposal to develop a new type of intermodal container, which could easily be moved on conventional passenger platforms between road and rail using conventional forktrucks making rail more attractive to the consumer goods market.
Use the links on the left to discover more about each winner.
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