National Centre for Research and Development and PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A chose 10 best R&D projects for railways

The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), together with PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. – PKP PLK (Polish Railway Lines) assigned over 35 million PLN on common undertaking dedicated to the program of fostering R&D work and projects in the railway infrastructure area entitled “BRIK” – Research and Development in Railway Infrastructure”

Thirty entries were submitted to the competition announced last year, finally 10 innovative projects were chosen for co-financing.

The Railway Research Institute is the leader of the consortium, for which 2.8 million PLN was allocated, which makes it the highest funding to date. The cooperation of specialists from the Railway Research Institute and Siled Sp. z o.o., Zakład Automatyki,i Urządzeń Pomiarowych (Automatics and Measuring Devices) AREX Sp. z o.o.  and ABZ Consulting Sp. z o.o. will result in developing the command-control and surveillance of lighting for railway premises. The work will allow, e.g. adopting lighting to the  actual train traffic on stations and to the passengers’ presence on platforms.

Innovative solutions are worth mentioning as they reduce negative impact of railway transport on people and the environment. Activities in this area are undertaken by the Warsaw University of Technology, the Railway Research Institute, the Institute of Environmental Protection in consortium with Budimex S.A. and Tines S.A.

NCBiR set the path of activities in five thematic areas: digitalization and processing of railway traffic parameters, reduction of negative impact of railway transport on the environment, increase of the accessibility and durability of facilities connected with provision of services for passengers, enhancement of railway infrastructure resilience to climatic factors, third parties’ intervention as well as improvement of the maintenance and modernization of railway infrastructure.

According to Jarosław Gowin, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Science and Higher Education, the cooperation between NCBiR and PKP PLK will result in the growth of railway transport competitiveness and innovation by 2026.

New solutions will contribute to high reliability of railway operations through an effective exploitation and management of infrastructure and will make this infrastructure more accessible for passengers, whereas modern information systems and technologies will have an impact on safety and the improvement of the process of railway infrastructure maintenance and modernization.