[Music] hi i'm david and i work for network rail network who now a rail if you've taken the train you may have noticed the name of the train company that you were traveling with it might have been a bellio scotrail arena trains rails or it could have been chilton railways or many many others but you may not have noticed network rail so we manage the infrastructure for all train companies to run their trains so what does it take to keep trains running surely there can't be that much to do well there's certainly a lot of infrastructure we've got 20 000 miles of track 30 000 bridges tunnels and viaducts thousands of miles of overhead lines and thousands of signals level crossings and stations and much much more in the next 20 minutes or so i want to give you the chance to meet some of my colleagues they'll be talking about the innovation that's happening to change the railway and how we're using lots of technologies in lots and lots of different ways to make the railway that was built in the 19th century bit for the 21st century and introducing you to 10 ways that innovation is changing the railway i'm ellie and i manage innovation projects in network rail my projects are some of the many things we're doing as we invest around 50 million pounds a year on research and development changing the railway for the future using new technologies and making a difference if you look back in history the railway have many innovators stevenson brunel and treadwell are just three of the pioneers who moved the railways forward in the 19th century through their innovative solutions and ideas we must continue that and be pioneers for the new 21st century railway delivering a reliable service for passengers and getting goods moved around the country whilst keeping people safe around the railway and looking after our environment everyone working with the railway can be a pioneer thinking innovatively thinking about how we can solve the challenges we face on a daily basis using technology [Music] i'm a network rail pioneer i'm an integral pioneer i'm a network rail pioneer i'm a nepal pioneer i'm a network rail pioneer i'm a network rail pioneer now i'm a pioneer hi i'm yusuf and i manage a european funded project within research and development that focuses on improving the way maintenance is undertaken both short term and long term for example 40 years in the future there are around 28 partners involved in the project spread across europe and i coordinate the team it's like having a blank canvas and thinking what research can we do to revolutionize the railway the focus is to have demonstrator outputs that can be trialled on our infrastructure to evidence that the research we've undertaken can actually work in practice to ensure strong collaboration i have the opportunity to travel around europe in normal circumstances to meet the team and ensure we are working towards the same goal it's great to be part of a massive team that will have a massive impact on the way and the future of railway transport thanks yousef changing the world is all about collaboration and patsy and next we're going to talk about 10 innovations that are changing the future of the railway [Music] so moran i'm going to the train station and i find that the escalator shut for me it's just really annoying because i'm pretty unfit and now i've got use of stairs but if i've got children or if i'm carrying a lot of luggage then that can be detrimental to my trip do we always have to wait until something breaks before you do something about it well lifts and escalators at most stations are now being monitored using an internet of things approach using data from sensors to detect failing components before they cause an escalator or lift to break and working with app developers making live data available through an application programming interface or api to release through a range of media channels cool so hopefully i'll get to the station and my the escalator is working but if it's not i'll find out through an app yeah that's right so sensors are at the heart of the remote condition monitoring system data from the sensors along with other data are fed into a predictive tool to understand how lift and escalator components are wearing out so they can be fixed before they fail this helps us to make repairs only when things are starting to break and that saves time and money wow that sounds really good and so apps have been developed to help process information for a lot of these problems are the apps being developed within network rail yes some apps have developed a network realm but this is about sharing data with other companies to create new services i don't think many people want an app that just told them when the station lifts well worked or not it's just one thing that's good to know when getting around and it can be linked up with how people can get help and avoid being less stranded that's fantastic thanks moran but what about using new stuff lorena we need to install a lot of food bridges to get over the tracks to the right platform as stations this can be expensive and difficult to build as they are unique for each place and not always look great we've developed a new type of food bridge that's manufactured away from the railway it can easily be configured to suit the places needed [Music] we know that 80 of the uk railway network is made up of small to medium-sized stations we also know that making our stations more accessible encourages the use of our network and we know that the encouraged use of our network encourages social economic development in the local communities where we have more accessible railway stations [Applause] the challenge that we have with this project is around station footbridges so usually we use an access for all footbridge and the time scales involved in building those bridges is so long that we knew we had to approach it differently and the professional head for buildings and architecture had the idea to approach some more novel suppliers and to collaborate in a consortium to come up with a new design and a new process for constructing a footbridge that meant we could save a lot of time a lot of money and a lot of carbon we've designed this bridge as a system it's not a it's not a custom designed bridge for each site what it is is a system that you can configure to fit on any site and it means the the components can vary in scale or in number uh they can be tuned up and down depending on whether you need to go higher or lower over the railway spans can vary we can go from two track to four track with an island platform to six track or whatever so it's it's a reconfigurable design and has been from the very outset meeting the targets that we've said in the project brief of significantly reducing costs making it far more environmentally friendly and reducing construction installation time we believe will allow station footbridges to be rolled out at a much quicker time scale than they currently are so the aver footbridge has the potential to drive increased accessibility across the whole of the uk's railway stations that looks great but i haven't seen any of those anywhere that's because the first one is being built right now you start to see them as stations that's really interesting thank you lorena but what about working on the railway carrie can you tell me a bit more about new technologies that's helping people in their day-to-day jobs sure no problem the railway was built as part of the first industrial revolution technologies like steam power and mechanical machines were the innovation of time not a computer in sight so coming from a world where people write a lot of stuff down on paper how are things moving forward from that we have developed a product called hmt1 workflow plus that's combined hardware one by workers and also to a solutions digital digitization solution to capture data from inspections automate form filling and support safety tools it's also known as connected worker solution it's already being used in the oil and gas industries that's really cool it's great that we can use technology from other industries and repurpose it for what we need on the railway i've heard people use it in warehouses as well this is what some of our colleagues think about it [Music] hmt1 is a completely hands-free voice controlled user interface which allows workers to complete digitized forms without the need to carry cumbersome documentation or whilst also operating the tools and equipment needed for the job [Music] i think it'll have a massive impact on what we do on a daily basis especially in the front line [Music] the benefits is it's data capturing quality of data first time correct as well it'll remove the multiple visits that we take the site to capture the information that allow us to plan and deliver track rules the biggest benefit for me on this is whoever does the walk whoever captures the information it's sustained standard for a while so the output is correct every single time the technology looks really intelligent hands-free and voice controlled integrated with other apps so when data is captured they are attacked with the location and it can be used on smartphones and tablets [Music] and we can't share a lot of data from trains they're called measurement trains they're bright yellow and you can't miss them but we've got to know what to do with all these data can you tell us how this data is helping us fix the railway yes we do collect a lot of data far too much to be analyzed by people so we use artificial intelligence to do a lot of that analysis for us so what does artificial intelligence do and how does it help us fix a railway it's like searching on the internet there's loads of information out there but when you type a few words into a search engine like google on your computer you get results that are usually relevant to what you want to know by computer applying a set of rules called algorithms we use our engineering knowledge to create algorithms that recognize when something isn't right so computer telescope fix right not exactly they give us a short list of problems showing us what's happening in a way that we can understand on maps with video and highlighting key data we decide what to fix and what order to do it in they support our decisions not make them for us okay so what type of things do we analyze everything we can all the parts of the railway infrastructure need to work to keep the railway running safely track overhead wires and drainage one of the latest things that we're working on is to measure water levels in the drains next to the railway this is really important to manage flooding from all the extra rainfall happening with climate change changes in the level can flag when there's a problem such as a drain being blocked and they can also give us clues when a problem may about to happen especially if we add data that forecasts rainfall trackwater explores an innovative sensor and data driven approach to surface water management within braille utilizing technologies pioneered on the highways by using trackwater including iot sensors and data modelling we can better manage and predict the maintenance of railway assets improving service levels and providing significant cost savings real-time information helps to minimize the risk of flooding through more accurate timely and trusted decision making by proactively managing drainage assets maintenance costs flood events and delay minutes will be reduced and safety improved for passengers and operatives [Music] trackwater an internet of things approach to rail surface water management [Music] that's okay for things we can see but what else do we need to do james we need to deal with the hidden dangers within the railway as well underneath our trucks we've got abandoned mines unexplored caves and all of these can collapse and damage buildings railway infrastructure and worst do things like derail a train and put people's lives at risk but how do we access these spaces and even if we could would we want to is it safe no we definitely don't want to go in there they can have dangerous gases cavins or even explosions so it's definitely not somewhere where you want to be putting a person so network rail working with robotics artificial intelligence experts from small companies and universities across the uk have developed a machine called prometheus now this can go into those unexplored spaces through a 150 millimeter borehole and then once it's in it can expand and explore them and that means that we don't have to put people in there it's much safer it's called prometheus after ridley scott's movie from 2012 check this out the inspection of mine environments adjacent to the railway is an essential undertaking however current methods are time-consuming costly and pose health and safety risks to workers such as falls structural collapse hazardous gases fire and explosions [Music] prometheus aims to eliminate these risks and provide an efficient solution for capturing high quality mapping data in harsh environments around the world such as underground mines the prometheus project is delivered by a consortium of uk industry and academic experts tasked with delivering a drone that will undertake autonomous exploration and inspection beyond the visual line of sight to achieve this prometheus will combine the latest research in artificial intelligence drone and sensor technology the drone will be reconfigurable designed to be deployed through bore holes 150 millimeters in diameter this will enable operations in confined spaces prometheus has the ability to explore environments beyond the visual line of sight equipped with advanced sensors and artificial intelligence the prometheus drone can explore unknown environments mapping its own path and navigating in real time to capture a detailed 3d map of its surroundings the prometheus drone will have far-reaching applications in many sectors that demand operations in dangerous and unknown environments it will be transformative for subterranean infrastructure inspection especially for mining rail construction utilities and search and rescue with other potential applications across offshore and nuclear industries [Music] well that's a really cool invention it really helps us see what's going on but once we know something's broken we've got to go out and fix it and that means putting people on the railway right vj that's certainly true at the moment a lot of repairs need trains to stop running and a team to fix it okay is that really so bad well they're always dangerous working on the track even with full training and safety procedures we want to spend less time fixing the railway so training services can run more of the time and we are working with universities colleagues from other countries and technology experts to build a special train that can find the problems and fix them there are lots of parts that need to come together to make this happen lots of technologies and new ways to make the repairs such as robotics and 3d printing that sounds really good but doesn't that mean that we won't actually need people to fix the railway we'll still need people just doing different roles safe programming the vehicles to make the repairs rather than make the repairs themselves safer cleaner quicker sounds great thanks vijay no problem [Music] technology is changing the way we are fixing the railway and it's also helping us cope with the effects of climate change and how that's effecting the rail away can you tell us more about what else is happening and with regards to the environment and the railway we like trees by the railway but they need to be looked after sometimes they get sick or get too big and that can be bad news for trains so can't we just have less trees by the railway yes we could but being responsible for the railway is about much more than keeping the trains moving network red is one of the biggest landowners in the uk and it's important that we manage the land in a way that helps the environment trees are home to many species and they are really important part of helping their biodiversity they also absorb carbon and their roots help to keep the ground stable and reduce flooding wow so it really is a challenge the easy option might be to just get rid of all the trees but we can't do that because the additional benefits they bring and that's why we need to innovate solve some of the problems that are caused by trees exactly and to do that we've developed a system called digitized line side inspection that uses different types of images taken from cameras on helicopters drones in front of trains to get a 3d view of trees and clues on their health this information is processed with artificial intelligence so we know when trees are starting to become sick with diseases including ash dieback and can deal with them before they become a danger [Music] in this era another issue caused by trees is the leaves which fall on the line every autumn yes every autumn the trees that grow along the railway drop thousands of tons of leaves onto the tracks which break down into a slippery substance that sticks to the rails and causes trains to lose their grip this can make trains overshoot signals and platforms it can cause train wheels to spin and to damage the wheels and the track it causes delays because trains can't always run to the timetable okay i know we already use high pressured water to blast off that sticky residue but what else can we do well water doesn't always work and using it can cause other problems for example neo-electrical equipment we've tried using cryogenic technology on several parts of the railway this freezes the leaf residue using dry ice which stops it sticking to the rails that's pretty cool so a bit like when you got chewing gum stuck in your jeans and your mum would shove them in the freezer to get it off not sure my mum's ever done that but yeah that's the idea [Music] so we're doing a lot to protect the environment by the railway but heather can you tell me how it trains our greens themselves at the moment trains are mostly powered by diesel engine engines and electric motors trains to the future won't be powered by diesel anymore just like the cars and laurel lorries these diesel engines are going to be a thing of the past well that's great but why can't we just make all trains electric now the biggest challenge is getting electricity to the trains themselves that usually happens via power lines that run above the trains but only a third of the railway is actually equipped with these so could just install more it can be complicated and expensive one of the biggest issues is getting the power lines under bridges and over trains without knocking down the bridge and building it bigger and without the electricity jumping from the wire or arcing which is really dangerous so what else can we do one of the things we've done is discover ways to safely install the wire closer to the bridge using a special electric resistant paint we developed with a university and other special equipment that insulates the bridge we can install power lines under some of the bridges this is just one idea that helps trains give us a future where we can travel with net zero carbon that all sounds great um but i know that trains use a lot of energy how can they be so green when they use so much electricity trains are pretty green we source a lot of our electricity from nuclear energy which is a low-carbon option although of course different views on whether we should be relying on nuclear altogether we are working to use energy from local renewable sources such as wind turbines and solar panels to power the trains but wherever we source the energy from we need to get it to the trains themselves although some passenger trains can operate on batteries high-speed and freight trains need a large amount of power that can only be provided by over head power lines [Music] technology is given a screen travel by rail but what about safety well train travel is the safest form of travel safe is for him exactly it it might be safe for those who are on the train but i hear a lot of people are killed on the railway i guess you mean when you have to cross the railway or trespassers yeah i mean obviously people shouldn't be trespassing but there are places where you can just cross the railway there's no lights or warning systems or anything true it does mean you have to be extremely careful to make sure there are no trains coming but there is a new system being developed called meerkats that will provide a red and a green signal to show when it's safe to run across the railway or not [Applause] [Music] it looks like pretty much everything's covered by innovation so david what's that left to do well patsy technology is moving so fast that there are opportunities everywhere but getting ideas to work does take time and effort okay great so is there anything i can do or was it just left up to the grown-ups definitely not left to the grown-ups patsy your generation zed the digital natives you know we're innovating day-to-day in network rails so as i said earlier there are opportunities everywhere but there are some special opportunities too and there's a competition that takes place every year in network rail to make ideas happen it's run young by young people like you four young people uh gen zed to gen zed do you remember the project to wire up workers to save them having to carry paperwork and write things down it was called hmt workflow plus that was developed by a team of apprentices and graduates like you who won this competition in 2020 thanks david so would you like to be a network rail pioneer what should the railway be offering is it about aiming towards a net zero carbon impact whilst you travel or is it more about what you do whilst you're traveling i was on someone recently and they asked why can't i order a domino's pizza to have while i'm on the train why not it's not on our list of things to do at the minute but there's no reason why it can't be our from future zero carbon to carbs on the move you could be part of creating the 21st century railway you
2021-08-13