CORDIS

Track switches are a fundamental element of any rail network which has multiple routes. Without them it would not be possible to safely guide trains from one route to another. However, they also limit the capacity and overall reliability of the network because of the potential impact of faults in the track-switch and the system’s safety critical nature. Since the inception of railway track switches, almost two centuries ago, very little has changed in terms of their basic layout and operation apart from the introduction of point machines. In contrast, industries such as aerospace, automotive and manufacturing have made radical improvements to their products and processes through the introduction of advanced materials and new designs incorporating mechatronics technologies.

The challenge for the S-CODE project is to emulate some of the achievements and advances in other sectors in order to develop improved solutions for railway switches and crossings. Hence, the overall aim of S-CODE is to investigate, develop, validate and initially integrate radically new concepts for S&C that have the potential to lead to increases in capacity, reliability and safety while reducing investment and operating costs. The project will identify radically different technology concepts that can be integrated together to achieve significantly improved performance for S&C based around new operating concepts (e.g. super-fast switching, self-healing switches).

The key outcomes and innovations of the S-CODE project will be:
• The development and prototyping of a modular whole system switch and crossing architecture that allows subsystems to be changed over the life of the S&C. This will enable innovations to be added as they become available. The architecture and subsystems will be modelled to allow rapid development of further capabilities.
• The design and prototyping of Next Generation Design components that can be incorporated into the architecture, using new materials and technologies to create a variety of permanent way subsystems.
• The design and prototyping of a Next Generation Control subsystem that can be incorporated into the architecture, which will include an ‘immune system’ capable of self- adjustment, self-correction, self-repair and self-healing.
• The design and prototyping of a Next Generation Kinematic subsystem that can be incorporated into the architecture, that includes new actuation and locking philosophies that make use of concepts such as redundancy and ‘limp-home’ through the use of novel actuators and mechatronic systems.
Analysis will be undertaken to quantify the value of these innovations from the perspective of reliability, life-cycle costs and higher speed switches/train throughput.