{"id":96013,"date":"2018-09-26T08:30:04","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T08:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=145b1196b8c50d922b8096b685072fc5"},"modified":"2018-09-26T08:30:04","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T08:30:04","slug":"news-story-cleaner-and-more-efficient-railways-apply-for-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=96013","title":{"rendered":"News story: Cleaner and more efficient railways: apply for contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The \u00a33.5 million funding opportunity for businesses will encourage innovation in the UK rail sector, demonstrate new technologies to customers and industry and build better railways for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Innovate UK is launching this competition on behalf of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/department-for-transport\">Department for Transport (DfT)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It is being run through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI).<\/p>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/sbri-the-small-business-research-initiative\">Find out more about SRBI and how it works<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/innovative-ideas-to-transform-uk-rail-in-line-to-bid-for-millions-in-government-grants\">Read the initial competition announcement from the DfT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"growing-demand-and-expectations\">Growing demand and expectations<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/statistics\/transport-statistics-great-britain-2017\">Statistics show<\/a> that the UK rail industry transported more than 1.7 billion passengers as well as millions of tonnes of freight last year. The number is likely to double within a decade.<\/p>\n<p>This, coupled with growing customer expectations, present a real challenge to the rail and light-rail industries.<\/p>\n<p>New technologies could help to meet the demand and offer more sustainable, quality services, journeys and better value to users.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"greener-railways-and-a-better-customer-experience\">Greener railways and a better customer experience<\/h2>\n<p>We are looking for well-developed innovations that are ready to be tested in an environment with railway customers and industry.<\/p>\n<p>The competition has 2 themes.<\/p>\n<p>In the first, projects should look at reducing the carbon footprint of railways across stations, rolling stock and infrastructure. Your project could focus on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>building stations with a zero carbon footprint<\/li>\n<li>improving air quality in stations and across the network<\/li>\n<li>reducing noise and pollution<\/li>\n<li>finding alternatives to fossil fuels, batteries or dual power systems, or supporting cheaper electrification<\/li>\n<li>developing lightweight, energy-efficient rolling stock<\/li>\n<li>transferring knowledge from other sectors, such as automotive or aerospace<\/li>\n<li>making better use of energy generation and storage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The second is inviting projects that use innovative technology to build a station of the future that improves the passenger experience. This could include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>offering a seamless end-to-end journey<\/li>\n<li>supporting accessibility for all passengers<\/li>\n<li>developing ticketless gate lines and barrier-free access<\/li>\n<li>developing virtual assistant technology<\/li>\n<li>providing reliable, consistent information during disruption and delays<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"addressing-the-big-4\">Addressing the big 4<\/h2>\n<p>Funding is for integration and direct testing with users. Your project should gather feedback, show how it would benefit passengers and demonstrate a significant change for the rail industry.<\/p>\n<p>It must also look at:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>reducing costs by 50% or more<\/li>\n<li>doubling capacity<\/li>\n<li>halving carbon emissions<\/li>\n<li>improving the experiences of customers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"competition-information\">Competition information<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>the competition opens on 8 October 2018 and the deadline for registration is midday on 21 November 2018<\/li>\n<li>it is open to organisations of all sizes and sectors<\/li>\n<li>we expect to fund up to 12 projects with total costs of between \u00a3250,000 and \u00a3350,000, including VAT<\/li>\n<li>projects will be 100% funded<\/li>\n<li>briefing events will be held on <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.co.uk\/e\/first-of-a-kind-foak-2-rail-competition-briefing-york-registration-50356212788\">9 October 2018 in York<\/a>, <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.co.uk\/e\/first-of-a-kind-foak-2-rail-competition-briefing-london-registration-50351155662\">11 October in London<\/a> as well as <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.co.uk\/e\/webcast-first-of-a-kind-foak-2-rail-competition-briefing-registration-50356781489\">an online webinar<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>projects must start by 1 March 2019 and can last up to 9 months<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<p><a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk\/competition\/247\/overview\">Find out more about this competition and apply<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Businesses can apply for a share of \u00a33.5 million to demonstrate new ways to reduce carbon on the railways and improve customer experiences in stations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}