This week, as the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Rail Innovation imminently draws to a conclusion, the TasRail Executive were taken through the key research outcomes by its CEO and TasRail Board member David George.
The CRC for Rail Innovation is a collaborative venture between leading organisations in the Australian Rail Industry including TasRail and seven of Australia’s leading Universities. Over a period of seven years (ending June 30, 2014), the CRC has invested $100m in rail research to solve serious problems in the industry and look for innovations that are able to be applied across the sector.
The CRC for Rail Innovation has addressed challenges faced by the Australian Rail Industry by focusing on six key research themes. These are:
- Climate Change and the Environment
- Safety and Security
- Urban Rail Access
- Performance
- Smart Technologies
- Workforce Development
Driven by their mission to “Become the Leading Research Provider to the Australian Rail Industry”, the CRC for Rail Innovation has worked hard to deliver a legacy of wide ranging benefits to continue to be adopted by the industry post CRC. Adoption of research outcomes is critical to the missions of CRC’s, and underpins much of the public/private funding partnerships and ‘public benefit’ of the funding model. Now the CRC funding is about to conclude, the program outcomes are being presented to partners and shared with industry. It is anticipated that through effective collaboration with participants using the findings of the research, the Rail Industry will transform into a more climate friendly, productive, efficient and safer environment.
Another key benefit of CRC’s is building future capability for the sector through the training of researchers in areas of knowledge. The CRC for Rail Innovation can be proud to have graduated over 70 Masters and PhD qualified people during its tenure. Now the CRC is concluding, the work to continue to commercialise results, partner on innovative rail projects and produce new knowledge for the sector transfers to the Australasian Centre for Rail Innovation (ACRI). ACRI has been established to undertake applied research for the industry and manage the legacy of work undertaken by the CRC. For more information on the projects and work undertaken by the CRC, click here to read their ‘Legacy’ report, or the project specific links above.
