Network Rail competitions announced

Network Rail SBRI competitions to support innovation in automated tunnel inspection and security surveillance analytics

Two new Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competitions have been announced to drive efficiency and safety in the rail industry. KTN is running a briefing event on 19 September in London when Network Rail and Innovate UK will explain the scope and the application process in detail - register here.

 

Network Rail will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £3m to address two of the objectives identified in Network Rail’s CP6 funding strategy for research and development:

1. Automated tunnel examination
2. Security surveillance analytics for stations

 

 

Automated tunnel examination
Up to £1.5m is available to support the development and demonstration of new capability in automated tunnel examination. The aim of this competition is to improve the accuracy, efficiency and safety of tunnel examinations resulting in a safer and more reliable operational railway. Projects should reduce the time taken to complete examinations through improved automation and increased repeatability and reproducibility of data.

Security surveillance analytics
This competition intends to find out whether security surveillance systems and associated analytics can work in a station environment without disrupting the rail network and will be delivered through two phases.

• Phase one – up to ¬£960,000¬†for development and demonstration of the capability of systems using pre-recorded CCTV feeds.
• Phase two – up to ¬£500,000 is available to support the development and demonstration of new security surveillance analytics for railway stations¬†in a live environment.

 

To find out more, register here for the briefing event 19 September, London.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can register here for the live webcast. Both competition themes will be covered by simultaneous webcasts so you will be asked to select just one on registering.

 

The competitions open on 16 September and close on 6 November. More details about the application process and the scope can be found here:

Automated tunnel examination
Security surveillance analytics for stations