The existing capabilities of the railway system and its technology are used intensively to meet current business requirements. However, those capabilities are finite and the increasing pressures of additional demand and the need to reduce costs will expose their limitations. Therefore more radical approaches must be developed to overcome these limitations, supported and enabled by innovative technology.

We have identified four areas for improvement, where the most impact can be made, and developed them as programmes of research. These programmes are:

• Next Generation Traffic management – how the railway is operated to make the best use of capacity and deliver a reliable, punctual train service at a reasonable cost.
• Energy Strategy – reducing the financial cost and carbon footprint of the energy used by the railway.
• Whole System Reliability – managing the assets used by the railway in a way that produces the fewest failures, enabling capacity to be maximised and doing this at the lowest long run costs.
• Data and Communication – providing complete, accurate and timely information to railway managers, passengers and freight customers and supporting enhanced processes, for example asset management, whist optimising energy usage.

Initial Activities and progress to 2010

Summary of route maps which underpin the programmes of research