Rail Forum Midlands patron, rolling-stock company, Porterbrook have leased a retired high-speed train HST) to the University of Birmingham.
The HST will be used as a research platform by the University of Birmingham to accelerate its existing research into alternative power sources for trains with more demanding duty-cycles: such as long-distance passenger or freight operations.
Alex Burrows, Director of the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) said “this HST will be invaluable as it will allow us to test and develop our technologies on an operating train, in an open environment. Having facilities like these, we can really deliver world-leading research and innovation that will transform the railway for operators and customers. We are hugely grateful to Porterbrook for their commitment to our research and innovation work at BCRRE.”
Porterbrook is also committed to the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) which brings the rail industry and academia together to develop innovative products.
The official handover took place at Long Marston during the Porterbrook sponsored Destination Decarbonisation event which centred on reducing the carbon footprint of UK railways.
