Institute of Railway Research
ACADEMIC CAPABILITIES
University of Huddersfield
Overview
Awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize “for research and development that has brought significant improvements to the railway industry.”, the Institute of Railway Research (IRR) is a world class centre for railway engineering research and innovation. With a team of over 35 dedicated academic research staff specialised in the modelling, simulation and full-scale testing of critical railway systems. The IRR has received £14m of investment in state-of-the-art full scale test facilities and works closely with industry to deliver impactful research for a safer, more reliable and cost-efficient low carbon railway.
UKRRIN status
UKRRIN member
Centre of Excellence in Rolling Stock (CERS) Lead
- Test facilities
Full-Scale Bogie Rolling Contact, Adhesion and Braking Rig/
Full-Scale High-Performance Test Bench for Pantograph and Catenary Research and Technology Development/
THOMoS: Train Hi-fidelity Motion Simulator /
High Performance Computing (HPC) system for Big Data analytics/
Scaled laboratory test rigs/
Track and vehicle measuring equipment/
Research themes
Institute of Railway Research – Fact File (2026-27)
30 Research staff
23 PhD students
210 Publications
Capability matrix
CAPABILITY
CAPABILITY LEVEL
Easy to use for all
Accurate, accessible and understandable real-time information
Smart fare collection
Accessible to all
Multi-modal integrated journeys
Reliable and fast on-board connectivity
Freight friendly
Increased network access for freight
Safer freight operations and better asset management
Enable greater intermodality and access for freight customers
Greater asset utilisation and reduced freight journey times
Low carbon freight and On Track machines
Low emissions
Efficient new electrificaiton
Zero carbon self-powered vehicles
Low carbon freight and On Track machines
Intelligent energy management
Cleaner air
Quieter railway
Lowering embodied carbon of key material
Optimised train operations
Infrastructure and train capabilities to overcome capacity constraints
Simpler and safer real-time operations and decisions
Improved recovery from incidents and disruptions
Reliable and flexible train planning
More affordable solutions for lower-use lines
Efficient and reliable - infrastructure
“Right-time” actionable insights on infrastructure conditions
Efficient, effective and safe infrastructure maintenance
Improved resilience of infrastructure to climate change and extreme weather events
Speed up and de-risk introduction of infrastructure assets
Proactive management of infrastructure obsolescence
Efficient and reliable - rolling stock
“Right-time” actionable insights on rolling stock conditions
Efficient, effective and safe rolling stock maintenance
Improved resilience of rolling stock to climate change and extreme weather events
Speed up and de-risk introduction of rolling stock assets
Proactive management of rolling stock obsolescence
Efficient and reliable - interfaces
Improved vehicle/track interaction
Improved pantograph/overhead line interaction
Improved utilisation of constrained space
Improved whole system resilience
Data driven
Advanced computing
Advanced data analytics techniques
Data governance and standardisation
Data integration
Effective innovation culture
System and network models
Pro-innovation legal and regulatory frameworks
Testing, homologation, cross acceptance
Technically talented workforce
Job design and human performance
Workforce development and training
Safety and health
Safety assessment and evaluation
Cyber security
Fitness for duty and health assessment
Competitiveness
Demand forecasting
Cost modelling
Social value
Research Group key contacts
Name: Paul Allen, Prof, Director of the Institute of Railway Research
Email: p.d.allen@hud.ac.uk
Name: Julian Stow, Principal Industrial Researcher, Department of Engineering
Email: j.m.stow@hud.ac.uk
FIND OUT ABOUT
TESTING AND TRIALING FACILITIES
Facilities