Project Summary
Rural areas lack accessible, affordable, and dependable passenger rail transport due to the high costs of installing and maintaining heavy-gauge railways. We suggest using rail networks to connect isolated rural areas and curb emissions from road transport. The SmarTrax system provides a lightweight, autonomously monitored, and low-capital-cost rail infrastructure that can restore historical lines and improve passenger rail transport. This TRIG project will test the system’s performance and resilience through finite element analysis under various loading conditions, enhancing its design for optimal durability. A full-scale prototype will be manufactured to showcase the system to potential customers while providing further testing opportunities.
Project Achievements
The project successfully completed and output a commercially viable slab that is ready for use with very light rail vehicles. A collaboration with ARLI at Birmingham University enabled further critiquing of the design using finite element analysis. This further optimised the design reducing the volume of materials required along with the complexity of componentry enabling the slab to have even greater sustainability credentials.
Conclusions
The project stands as a resounding success, holding immense value in advancing the system’s development and establishing its technical and commercial viability as a real-world solution. The comprehensive design development, meticulous FEA & FEM analyses, and the impending prototype manufacturing phase have collectively provided conclusive evidence that the solution not only works but also carries the potential for the transformative impact envisioned at its inception.
Next Steps
In the next phase, further testing on the physical slabs once they are installed will be carried out, with the aim of further validating their performance under real-world loads from the R-VLR rail vehicle, and the Freight Skate maintenance bogie. Furthermore, we are set to commence the implementation of the Railsense system, which will autonomously detect rail vehicles, identify failures, and detect any changes to the rail line, such as subsidence, trespassing, or theft. By integrating the SmarTrax system with Railsense, we anticipate a significant enhancement in rail line safety, proactive and predictive maintenance practices, as opposed to the reactive approach currently in use.
