Project description
Vaporising leaves from train tracks
One of the most common hazards for trains is leaves. Leaves cause the tracks to become slippery. Trains can slide along the rails when trying to brake effectively. According to the United Kingdom's NetworkRail, which owns and operates the railway infrastructure in England, Wales and Scotland, there are 10 million trees on and next to the railway network in Britain and, every autumn, thousands of tonnes of leaves fall onto the tracks. The EU-funded LT project has a solution. It is developing the Laser Train. It will use high-powered laser pulses to vaporise the slippery contamination. The Laser Train, a separate wagon that can be pulled by locomotives, will not heat up or damage the track.
Objective
Anyone who travels by train is familiar with delays. Track contamination such as rust, oil and most notoriously autumn leaves cause the tracks to become slippery. Research shows that this leads to 75% lower traction and as a result to severe safety issues from the reduced braking ability. Low traction also leads to slipping and sliding wheels creating ‘flat spots’ and damages wheel and track. Launching customer MTA Long Island Rail Road estimates the cost of wheel repairs at €3.000 each and that for a total of 3.307 wheels in 2017. As for safety issues, in 2017 in the UK 295 trains failed to stop at stations or red lights. The UK infrastructure manager Network Rail shows that slippery tracks cost them an annual €320 million, showing that there is need for a working solution.
Laser Tribology B.V. (LPS) has developed the solution: the LaserTrain. Using high-powered laser pulses the slippery contamination layer is vaporized from the track, without heating up or damaging the track. The LaserTrain is a separate wagon that can be pulled by locomotives in any operator’s network. A few dedicated cleaning LaserTrains clean the network between September and March when the contamination layers hinder operations. After three years of R&D, a full in-house simulation and a prototype on live track the system is now ready for a debut in Europe. The system is fully standalone, requires only energy and cleans at 80 km/h, so it blows away the competition in every aspect.
In Europe there is a long list of prospects following our development closely, such as Network Rail (UK), Banedanmark (DK), Dutch Railways (NL), Deutsche Bahn (DE) and PKP (PL). To meet their demand, engineering on an 80 km/h LaserTrain has finished. Now it’s time to protect the most vital parts of the IP and make it a huge commercial success in Europe. This feasibility study helps do just that. Firstly we look at how bank funding allows us to pre-finance multiple orders. Secondly we improve our knowledge protect
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering tribology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1013 BD AMSTERDAM
Netherlands
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.