Institution of Mechanical Engineers Railway Challenge
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is organising a railway challenge. The aim of the challenge is for teams, formed of university students or apprentices in the rail industry, to design, build, and operate a 1:5 scale railway locomotive running on 10¼” gauge track. The locomotive must meet certain criteria, and will compete against other designs in a series of challenges, including traction performance, ride comfort, and reuse of recovered energy from braking.
The university’s Birmingham Centre for Railway Research & Education is participating in the railway challenge with a multi disciplinary team from Mechanical Engineering; Chemical Engineering; and Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering. The design will incorporate a hybrid traction systems powered by a novel fuel. The competition will take place at the Stapleford Miniature Railway at the end of June.
We are delighted to announce that the Birmingham Railway Challenge project has been awarded funding through the University Annual Giving Programme. Thanks to the generosity of alumni donations to the Circles of Influence innovation campaign, our project was successful in securing £9,890 to help us buy the materials to build our locomotive. For further details on other projects that were supported though the funding please see here: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/alumni/giving/circlesofinfluence/projects-supported.aspx.
Recent events
International Hydrail Conference
On the 3-4 July 2012 the University of Birmingham hosted the 7th International Hydrail Conference. This annual conference, held in a different country every year, focuses on the use of hydrogen for railway propulsion, the associated benefits, and remaining challenges. More information can be found at http://hydrail.org.
International Workshop on Railway Aerodynamics April 8th to 10th 2013
Around the world there is much activity in this area, driven by the design of new types and concepts of trains, and by the needs for international standardisation. However the railway aerodynamics community is a relatively small one, and there is no regular international technical where forum researchers and practitioners can meet to exchange recent results and ideas. The International Workshop on Railway Aerodynamics, held in Birmingham on April 2013, provided an ideal opportunity for such exchanges.
If you wish to receive infomation concerning the organisation of the workshop please contact Professor Chris Baker, c.j.baker@bham.ac.uk.