It's High Speed towards R&D goals

High Speed 1 releases ‘Innovation in High-Speed Rail’ operational Challenge Statements

High Speed 1 is committed to maintaining its reputation as a market leader in Rail Asset Management.  To focus our strategy in this area, we have developed three Challenge Statements, through which we can deliver key research and development projects with future partners to solve the issues we face. 

Together with the Connected Places Catapult and key Strategic Partner, Network Rail High Speed, we looked at a range of issues across different areas of the business, before going into finer detail around three core challenges:

• Cross-Domain Integration
• Automated Inspection
• Efficient Possessions

With our focus areas known, we have been able to determine the must have features of future solutions and deliverables. 

1. Human-centred solutions

“Great technologies collapse when they fail to consider the human in the loop”

In an operational high-speed railway where human effort is central to our inspection, maintenance and renewal work, a worker-centric solution must be considered.  High Speed 1 aims to research and develop solutions that aid our workforce and that of our Strategic Partners, making the time they spend on the asset safer and more valuable. 

2. Data to inform decisions

 “We cannot continue to collect data for the sake of it” 

A key deliverable in any future solutions, is that there must be valuable insight created through the data we capture.  The line of sight between new data generation and final decisions that said data informs must be maintained and clear to understand.  Lastly, the data we create will be interoperable, ensuring that as proprietary systems come and go, the useful data we create and own can be used for long term trend analysis, and amalgamation to answer wider-business questions. 

High Speed 1 welcomes the marketplace to get in touch to help us transform our approach in these challenge areas.  Over the next 24 months, we will utilise our Research and Development fund to progress solutions.

Find out more information by reading our Challenge Statements, available here.