The University of Huddersfield’s Institute of Railway Research (IRR) has been tasked with developing new switches, crossings and track systems as part of the six-year Shift2Rail initiative, which aims to boost the capacity of Europe’s railway network to cope with soaring demand, increase the reliability and quality of rail services, and make big reductions in costs.

The European Union is supporting the project with 450 million euros of funding. The initiative includes three research projects: Roll2Rail focuses on rolling stock, IT2Rail deals with information technology, and In2Rail investigates track and infrastructure.

IRR is one of 55 partners taking part in the In2Rail programme, which will be led by the UK’s Network Rail and Swedish railway administrator Trafikverket.

The university’s researchers will help to develop new technologies such as ‘self-correcting’ maintenance-free tracks, as well as new switches and crossings. The potential for ‘smart’ tracks embedded with sensors and mechatronics will also be investigated.

IRR head of research Dr Yann Bezin said that the team would effectively be starting with a blank sheet of paper, as if railways were a completely new concept, without their long history. “We will be trying to do something radically different and eliminate the failure modes that are associated with the existing system.”