The Welsh Government's flagship Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) project will collaborate with the University of Birmingham on research and development and innovation activities.
The £200m global rail test centre in south Wales, which is due to complete by 2025, has signed an agreement with the Birmingham's Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE).
The agreement will see railway expertise from academia, government and industry contribute to rail innovation at the site of the former Nant Helen opencast mine and Onllwyn coal washery at the head of the Dulais and Tawe Valleys.
Read more: Plans for over 100 energy efficient homes in North Wales unveiled
BCRRE is the largest specialist railway research, education and innovation centre in Europe. It was selected by the Welsh Government to lead the development of a Centre of Excellence for Railway Testing and Validation which will sit alongside the new 6.9km test track that is being built.
Working alongside several Welsh universities, including Cardiff and Swansea, BCRRE will establish a R&D centre that will undertake industry-focused research and innovation activities. By locating at the facility, it will be able to provide strategic and technical support to industry R&D activities taking place at the test centre.
Professor Clive Roberts, BCRRE director, said: “Collaboration and partnership are key to success in rail innovation and we are looking forward to bringing our industry links and rail expertise together with those of the GCRE. Together we will create a facility that can deliver world class innovation to the sector.”
Simon Jones, chief executive of GCRE said: “Our partnership with the University of Birmingham, the wider 海角视频RRIN family and our local universities here in Wales mean that GCRE and our clients will benefit from some of the 海角视频’s leading research minds, and how their research and innovation is applied and validated. Having a substantial 海角视频RRIN testing and validation team permanently based at GCRE immediately boosts our credentials and is a powerful indicator of how we want GCRE to develop for the benefit of the 海角视频’s railway industry.
Most Read
Sign up to the BusinessLive Wales newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn
As well as an in-depth early morning newsletter, we will be sending out regular breaking news email alerts. To sign up to this service
And, follow us on to catch the latest stories and to network with the Welsh business community.
“BCRRE is central to this partnership, and will provide us with strategic and technical support as we focus on creating a flexible and open-market rail technology proving ground that helps to accelerate innovation on the journey to net-zero, cost reduction through application of innovation and improved customer services.”
Started in 2021, the £200m GCRE project is a flagship and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Welsh Government. The site straddles the local authority areas of Neath Port Talbot and Powys, who are partners in the project.
It will be used by the 海角视频 and international rail industry and is expected to create over 100 direct jobs, as well as being a catalyst for creating many more as academic and industrial partners are attracted to the site.
It will feature inner and outer looped electrified test tracks including two 25KV electrified test loops, one being a 6.9km high-speed rolling stock track with a maximum speed of 177km/h and the other a 4km 65km/h test track.
Other associated infrastructure will include dual-platform test environment, rolling stock storage, maintenance and sidings, as well as a control centre and space for related R&D, education and training purposes.
The project will also feature the 海角视频's first net zero railway and become the 'one stop shop' for railway innovation, from research and development, through testing, verification and certification, to applied innovation on mainline passenger and freight railways.
Don’t miss
There aren't currently any testing facilities in the world that provide both a rail and rolling stock testing solution.
Read more:
- "Protect the economy, businesses and people's livelihoods" Welsh business leaders tell new PM Liz Truss
- The man in charge of Britain’s biggest energy port
- Wales' first exotic animal vet practice opens following six-figure backing
- Trading confidence in Wales tumbles as cost of doing business crisis takes hold
New coding academy launched to address FinTech skills gap in Wales