Institute of Railway Research hosts Transport for the North in key visit

The University of Huddersfield welcomed Lord Patrick McLoughlin to its prestigious Institute of Railway Research, a decade on from the then Secretary of State for Transport officiating at its grand opening.

Lord McLoughlin, now Chair of regional body Transport for the North (TfN), was joined by their Strategy Director and Deputy Chief Executive, Katie Day, for a tour of the Institute (IRR), which was founded to carry out leading-edge railway research and develop innovations that impact the safety, performance and environmental sustainability of the industry.

He was invited to return by Professor Paul Allen, Director of the IRR, to witness the progress of the Institute and the development of its world-class test facilities over the past 11 years, and to discuss alongside Katie Day, how TfN and the University can work more closely to deliver against a transport strategy to improve connectivity, social mobility and drive growth in the region.

During their tour, Lord McLoughlin and Katie Day took part in live demonstrations involving THOMoS, a £1.2 million state-of-the-art Train Hi-fidelity On-board Motion Simulator capable of reproducing the on-board motions and sensations of a train journey.

In addition, they witnessed the IRR’s latest automation-based research in the application of robots for carrying out refuelling and maintenance activities on a mock-up of a railway vehicle, within its Smart Rolling Stock Maintenance Research Facility. The tour group also visited the Institute’s HAROLD full-scale railway roller rig and the Panther, a pantograph and overhead line dynamics test rig.

Professor Allen commented: “We were delighted to welcome Lord McLoughlin back to the University of Huddersfield’s Institute of Railway Research just over a decade after he officially opened the Institute in 2013. It was a great chance for us to show the progress in our test facilities and capabilities over the past 11 years and strengthen our relationship with TfN.

“Supplemented by Katie Day’s insightful knowledge of transport strategy, we were able to better understand the region’s key transport priorities, identify synergies with our academics’ expertise and take the first step in building much closer collaboration between our two organisations.”

Beyond the IRR, the visit was an opportunity to discuss the wider transport-related work across the University, including AI for road traffic management within the School of Computing and Engineering’s Centre for Intelligent and Autonomous Systems, led by Professor Mauro Vallati and also the Transport Studies Group and Future Mobility Centre, residing in the School of Business, Education and Law, represented by Professor Alex Nikitas and Visting Professor, Richard Knowles.

To draw the day to a close, the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan joined the group for presentations and roundtable discussions, identifying priority areas for future collaboration that are planned to be commenced in the New Year.

Lord McLoughlin said: “Our thanks to Paul and the team for hosting us at the Institute for Railway Research (IRR) – such impressive and fascinating work here in the North of England. Innovation is central to creating the railways needed to unlock growth, decarbonise our transport system and open up more opportunities for all. And working together, with public and private partners, across the North of England underpins TfN’s Strategic Transport Plan – so we look forward to continuing to engage with the IRR and the wider team at the University of Huddersfield.”

Awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize “for research and development that has brought significant improvements to the railway industry”, the Institute is a world-class centre for railway engineering research and innovation. It has a team of over 35 dedicated academic research staff specialising in the modelling, simulation and full-scale testing of critical railway systems.

The IRR has received £14m of investment in state-of-the-art full-scale test facilities and works closely with industry to deliver impactful research for a safer, more reliable and cost-efficient low-carbon railway. 

As part of the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) the IRR also hosts the Centre of Excellence in Rolling Stock.