The engineering challenges and implications of Great Britain’s railway’s loading gauge will be discussed in detail at a seminar organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London on Tuesday 28 March 2023.
Britain’s railways operate under a major restriction compared with most other railways around the world – the tight loading gauge means that both passenger and freight trains have to be smaller than their equivalents elsewhere. This is quite a challenge when trying to move international standard-sized containers and to find space to install batteries and hydrogen fuel tanks outside of passenger compartments.
Railway Gauging and Clearance: Present and Future will address the technicalities and practical implications of gauging from the perspective of the infrastructure manager, rolling stock specifier, designer, manufacturer, operator and maintainer.
Gauging on the Great British network is a challenge. The fragmentation between rolling stock design and infrastructure management, combined with a complicated, data-heavy relationship and apparently esoteric rules can bewilder anyone trying to understand it. Some believe that conservatism in gauging leads to trains being smaller than necessary, affecting interior space and stepping distances at the platform-train interface. Aspirations such as designing a route-bespoke or a go-anywhere train apparently conflict. And, this year, the National Gauging Database (NGD) is being replaced by the Railway Gauging Data Solution (RGDS) – what does this mean for the industry?
All interested parties are invited to join the IMechE’s Railway Division at 1 Birdcage Walk for a seminar that will bring together key stakeholders in the gauging community, including the infrastructure manager, rolling stock gauge specialists, standards owners and those modernising the process.
Photo credit: IMechE
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