Government announces 2022’s £7.6m rail innovation competition

The UK Government is set to invest £7.6m in cutting edge technology which will support the transformation of rail travel into the future.

The announcement of this years ‘First of a Kind’ competition was made by Rail Minister, Wendy Morton and invites bids from companies who are focused on specialist innovations that could modernise the railways.

The competition is in partnership with Innovate UK and will see an award of up to £7.6m for projects with cutting edge ideas that will lead to the transformation of rail travel for passengers and the decarbonisation of the network

Applications can be made for the competition from the 20th of April with the final chance to enter on the 8th of June.

Bids are welcomed from organizations of all sizes with projects focused on making a greener, more cost-effective and passenger-friendly railway. The competition this year will see a focus on improving the industry’s cost efficiency and performance through the network with the aims of creating a more reliable railway for passengers and improvements for rail freight.

The Rail Minister, Wendy Morton said: “I am incredibly excited to launch the sixth round of our First of a Kind competition. In partnership with Innovate UK, we have already invested £35.4 million into over 100 ground-breaking projects.

“We’ve seen cutting edge technologies such as HydroFLEX developed, the first-ever trial of a hydrogen-powered train on the UK mainline, and software improving accessibility such as the Hearing Enhanced Audio Relay app.

“As part of our Plan for Rail it’s key we continue breathing life into new ideas and supporting innovation and design to deliver greener rail journeys and transform rail travel for all passengers.”

33 Innovators received grants of up to £40,000 from last year’s competition!

The First of a Kind fund has supported the trial and launch of more than 100 projects which promote greener railways, improved passengers experience and accessibility for the transport network whilst helping the railway be more cost-effective such as:

• HydroFLEX which is the first mainline trial of a hydrogen train in the UK via Birmingham University’s HydroFLEX project
• Window Seater is an innovative app that connects rail travellers to the world outside their window with geolocated audio stories along the railway
• Hearing Enhanced Audio Relay (HEAR), HEAR is an affordable software supporting hearing impaired passengers that automatically broadcasts audio announcements to passengers’ own devices.