Transreport,聽has today been awarded 拢410,000 from聽the Department for Transport in partnership with Innovate UK, as part of the聽First of a Kind (FOAK) competition (now in its fifth round)聽focused on making the railways cleaner, greener and more passenger friendly.
The investment represents the third tranche of funding received by Transreport from the FOAK competition and takes the total investment from DfT in the startup to just over 拢1M.
Real-time automatic validation of accessibility equipment/facilities availability while booking could make journeys easier for disabled passengers requesting assistance via an existing Passenger Assistance app.
The technology is one of the winners of the latest round of the FOAK competition announced today by the Transport Secretary. This year the competition has been aimed at making the railways cleaner, greener and more passenger friendly.
The Department for Transport, in partnership with聽Innovate UK,聽has聽funded聽30聽ground-
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Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said:聽
鈥淚 am delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 First of a Kind competition. These聽winners will聽hopefully聽play a聽role putting聽passengers聽at the聽centre of our railways as we build back better from Covid-19.聽The competition always throws up surprises and the ideas shown today could transform how we travel in future.鈥�
The creative problem solving on display in this competition will be further encouraged by the reforms brought about by the Williams Shapps Plan for Rail. The expertise and innovation of the private sector will improve efficiency making it easier and cheaper to plan maintenance, renewals and upgrades鈥� and unlocking new benefits for passengers.
Winners include聽a revolutionary app that connects rail travellers to the world outside their window and brings the route to life. As passengers travel the app uses geo-location to聽immerse passengers聽in the history and stories of the places they travel through, making even the morning commute a train ride back in time.
Other聽winning projects聽include:聽
- A system to monitor people flow, congestion points and behaviour at stations so operators can remover bottlenecks聽and聽deploy countermeasures,聽helping people avoid crowds聽and restoring聽passenger confidence in the rail system post COVID-19.
- A聽scheme that provides an interchangeable interior train carriage聽for quick, deep cleaning聽and allowing operators to rejig a trains seating layout聽at short notice. Reacting to demand, keeping passengers safe聽and freeing up space.
- A project that uses聽electromagnetism to deliver safe and predictable braking in harsh conditions, whilst improving acceleration.
- A scheme which aims to deliver a train running on hydrogen and a hydrogen gas blend聽promising聽low emissions and an even greener聽railway.
Simon Edmonds, Deputy Executive Chair and Chief Business Officer, Innovate UK, said:
“As we move ever closer to getting past the pandemic, passengers are returning to the railway. To give them ever greater confidence that rail is safe and sustainable we called upon UK innovators to come up with fresh ideas. Yet again the response has been fantastic. Not only will passengers benefit from these great innovations but business prospects are bright in this sector too.鈥�
Now in its fifth round, the competition was open to inventors from across the nation, regardless of the organisations size or stature which allows small companies with bright ideas to be recognised.
Previous winners include聽the聽LoCe聽(Less oil,聽Cleaner聽exhaust)聽project that secured 拢398k聽in 2020.聽The project has developed new diesel exhaust technology which reduces the聽nitrogen oxide emissions by around 80%. The聽technology has been fitted to a Porterbrook owned Class 170聽Turbostar,聽operated by East Midlands Railway, and聽has subsequently reduced harmful engine emissions.
