Plans for the world’s first integrated train and rail infrastructure testing facility in South Wales has been boosted with £15m in research council funding for a related railway research and innovation centre.
The Welsh Government’s Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) project, on the site of the former Nant Helen opencast mine and Onllwyn washery in the Dulais Valley, plans to create two electrified rail track testing loops - one extending to 6.9 kilometres able to test high-speed rolling stock at a maximum speed of 177km per hour and an inner four kilometre loop allowing speeds of 65km per hour. It will also be able to test new developments, such as hydrogen powered rolling stock, and infrastructure like signalling.
The £15m funding the Research Partnership Investment Fund has been earmarked for a new centre of excellence for railway testing, validation and customer experience at the GCRE. It follows a successful bid from a consortium led by the University of Birmingham, working alongside Cardiff and Swansea universities.
