HS2 has revealed the winners of a competition to recognise innovation in rail, which it will now invest in during a six-month development process.

HS2’s section of the ‘First of a Kind’ has declared four companies as winners. Between them, they have developed technology which will accelerate track laying, rail welding and automate cable installation, amongst other functions, during delivery of the new high-speed railway.

First of a Kind is a Department for Transport (DfT) initiative, which aims to increase value for money in the railway sector.

HS2 has focused its component of the competition on using automation and new digitally-based methods to save money in delivering its systems, including rails, track, signalling and electrics. It estimates that the technology could bring savings of over £4million, and will also reduce the time it will take to install the line’s infrastructure.

HS2 aims to be highly reliable, and will operate using the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It will be built with highly durable slab track instead of traditional ballast. Engineers will make the track off-site and install it at multiple locations along the line’s route, which requires very precise working. HS2’s track will consist of seventy thousand slab track panels between London and the West Midlands.

HS2 Ltd is investing over £650,000 in the four winning companies, which are:

• Mirage Ltd, a company based in Stoke-on-Trent, which put forward advanced induction heating technology, which is safer, stronger and faster than traditional rail welding, and offers greater fatigue resistance.
• Mobibiz Ltd, a London company which has developed sensors that will attach to the ERTMS signalling system cabling, which will provide maintenance teams with a web-based GIS mapping tool to show its exact location, thus reducing maintenance costs.
• Kent’s I3D Robotics, which has developed a robot to install tunnel cable, combining efficient automation with software that automatically assures its work; the competition’s judges noted that the “benefits to HS2 are clearly identified, with further efficiencies highly likely.”
• Geokod Rail, a Czech company which has developed a very precise ‘Panel Rectification System’ through its involvement in slab track laying programmes in mainland Europe, which may cut up to five minutes off the installation time for each panel.

HS2 Ltd senior innovation manger Jon Kelly said, “HS2’s involvement in this year’s First of a Kind competition marks to start of the programme’s preparations to pivot towards its rail systems phase. This will be a major stage in development of the new high speed railway.

“This why I am extremely pleased to welcome four innovative firms whose solutions we hope will make significant contributions to driving productivity growth and efficiency in the rail systems sector to the benefit of both HS2 and the wider rail industry.”