The University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk) is spending £10 million to develop a centre of excellence for high-speed rail planning, design, construction and manufacturing.

The Institute for High Speed Rail and System Integration will include a high-speed railway infrastructure and vehicle system test facility.

Covering foundations and track, traction systems, braking, energy harvesting, sensor technology and digital systems, the Institute aims to optimise the efficiency, performance and safety of high-speed rail.

Working with other institutions in the North — including the High Speed Rail College in Doncaster and the Network Rail Campus in York — it will help to address the skills gap to support rail industry growth, with both undergraduate and postgraduate courses available.

Iain Roche, head of innovation at HS2, said: “The creation of world-leading facilities so close to the HS2 depot to the east of Leeds will accelerate the vehicle and systems integration testing process and advance the UK’s vision of creating a high-speed railway that will support regional growth, create jobs and rebalance the economy.”

Peter Woodward at Leeds University said: “We will be drawing on the full range of our research strengths to offer unrivalled support for a high-speed rail network in the UK.

"A system integration approach is possible because of the highly multi-disciplinary teams at Leeds. Combined with ‘state of the art’ test facilities, this investment will place Leeds on the world stage as the ‘go to’ place for high-speed rail research.”