The Railway Industry Association (RIA) have announced the agenda and speakers of their next Unlocking Innovation webinar series on Routes to Zero Carbon Rail, held in partnership with RSSB.
The series will cover key themes around decarbonisation over the four days of virtual events. The sessions will look at how the industry can accelerate electrification, how we can develop zero carbon rolling stock, sustainable maintenance and operations, and rail’s role in the wider push to reach net zero carbon emissions.
Confirmed speakers for the events include:
- Helen McAlister, Richard Stainton & Janet Dunnett, Network Rail;
- Mike Edwards, Motive Zero;
- Jonathan Brown, Ricardo Rail;
- Chris Smith, Gvolution;
- Howard Lungley, Frazer Nash;
- Matthew Candy, Steamology;
- Andrew Kluth, Lead Carbon Specialist, RSSB;
- Justin Moss, Siemens;
- Russell Fowler, National Grid;
- David Horsfall, Tyseley Energy Park;
- David Golightly, Newcastle University;
- Tim Harrison, Loughborough University; and
- Alex Byford, Riding Sunbeams.
Commenting on the agenda, RIA Technical Director David Clarke, said: “We are pleased to announce the full agenda for our next Unlocking Innovation series of events, which comes at an important time for the rail industry and UK economy as a whole. We know that green economic growth is at the top of this Government’s agenda as it looks to rebuild from Coronavirus, with the Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris confirming just this week that the Government are ‘deadly serious’ about decarbonising the railways. And as a sector we have ambitious but achievable decarbonisation targets which we need to meet if the UK is to reach net-zero by 2050.
“Against this backdrop, these events will bring together key innovators and decision makers to showcase some of the leading green innovations in rail which are being developed and implemented across the country. We hope you can join us for what will be a fascinating and timely webinar series.”
Luisa Moisio, Research & Development Programme Director, at RSSB said: “RSSB is delighted to support the Unlocking Innovation webinar series on Routes to Zero Carbon Rail which comes at a crucial time for industry and its decarbonisation journey. With the ambitious industry strategy on carbon starting to be delivered, this event gives us the opportunity to bring industry together to explore how to accelerate progress and drive the ‘net zero’ agenda forward.
“The programme for this webinar series showcases many examples of the most relevant and promising work happening in the rail decarbonisation arena. RSSB is particularly pleased to have the opportunity to disseminate some of the feasibility projects we funded through the ‘Intelligent Power Solutions’ competition and discuss on how they can be taken to the next stage.”
The events will be open to all and held from Monday 19 to Thursday 22 October 2020, at 14:00 – each event will last approximately one hour and a half. The week will conclude with Modern Railways’ well-regarded Railway Industry Innovation Awards taking place on the Friday.
The full agenda for the Unlocking Innovation webinars:
- Monday 19 October: Driving electrification – more cost-efficient electrification of the network
- Speakers: Helen McAllister, Strategy & Planning Director (Wales & West), Network Rail – Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy, Justin Moss of Siemens and Richard Stainton from Network Rail.
- Tuesday 20 October: Decarbonising self-powered rolling stock
- Speakers: Mike Edwards of Motive Zero, Jonathan Brown from Ricardo Rail, Chris Smith of G-Volution, and Matt Candy of Steamology.
- Wednesday 21 October: Zero carbon Operations, Maintenance and Renewals
- Speakers: Howard Lungley, Sustainability Lead, Frazer Nash and Janet Dunnett, Programme Development Manager at Network Rail
- Thursday 22 October: Generation decarbonisation – exploring rail’s wider role in the national push for net zero emissions
- Speakers: Russel Fowler, Senior Project Manager – Transport Decarbonisation, National Grid, David Horsfall, Director, Tyseley Energy Park and Andrew Kluth, Lead Carbon Specialist, RSSB about the Rail Decarbonisation R&D programme
- Friday 23 October: Modern Railways will be running their Railway Industry Innovation Awards, which RIA is sponsoring.
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