The Global Centre Of Rail Excellence is a world class facility for sustainable mobility, renewable energy and commercial property currently being developed in South Wales. It will provide unique-to-Europe research, testing and showcasing opportunities for rolling stock, infrastructure and cutting-edge new rail and mobility technologies. The new facility will be located on a 700-hectare site and offer significant renewable energy generation capacity. GCRE will be the UK’s first ever net zero in operation railway. GCRE will be critical in the testing of new products that can support decarbonisation and our transport path to net zero. GCRE will become Europe’s premier facility for rail and mobility innovation, helping to speed up the development of new products as well as creating important new job creation and export opportunities. #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #TomorrowTogether
Global Centre Of Rail Excellence
Rail Transportation
GCRE will provide world-class research, testing & certification of rolling stock, infrastructure & new rail technologies
About us
The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) is a new, purpose-built rail innovation facility being built in South Wales that will undertake world-class research, testing and certification of rolling stock, infrastructure and innovative new rail technologies - something that currently doesn’t exist on a single site in either the UK or in Europe. Operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the facility will include two electrified test loops, one a 6.9km high speed rolling stock track and the other a 4km track for heavy infrastructure testing. Opening in 2025 it will become the UK’s first ever net zero railway, supporting the innovation needed to aid the UKs path to net zero and, crucially, helping lower the costs of major rail infrastructure projects. Located on a former open cast mine in the Dulais Valley, it will create long-term, high-quality jobs and become a magnet for other, high-quality investments and R&D. Planning permission has been secured for the project and its 24-hour, seven day a week operation, with construction beginning in early 2023. Site clearance has already commenced, and an experienced management team is in place to drive the project forward.
- Website
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https://www.gcre.wales
External link for Global Centre Of Rail Excellence
- Industry
- Rail Transportation
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- Dulais Valley, South Wales, UK
- Type
- Public Company
Locations
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Primary
Dulais Valley, South Wales, UK, GB
Employees at Global Centre Of Rail Excellence
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Tim Lane
Consultant Innovator at Invisiblinq
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Fletch Rail Advisory (Simon Fletcher)
Former Director Europe at UIC; Founder, Fletch Rail Advisory, freelance railway professional experienced at national and international levels; Brand…
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Robert Thompson
Director of Implementation at Global Centre of Rail Excellence
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Simon Jones
Chief Executive Officer at GCRE Ltd
Updates
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It was a very great pleasure to meet with you and your study visit colleagues, Anna Wojtych. Stay in touch. We’d love to work with you and your colleagues in the future. Thank you for coming to Wales! Diolch! #Collaboration #NetZero #Innovation
Jakie pomysły mają Wielka Brytania i Walia na transformację obszarów po węglu i ciężkim przemyśle? ✅️ hub zielonej energii w miejsce nieczynnej elektrowni węglowej ✅️ centrum testowania zeroemisyjnej kolei na terenie dawnej kopalni odkrywkowej ✅️ obszar po stalowni zamieniony na miasteczko ✅️ mistrzostwo w recyklingu. To tylko część, jaką zobaczyliśmy w czasie wizyty studyjnej zorganizowanej przez British Embassy Warsaw. Dziękuję: Angelika Gronowska-Starzenska, Daniel Baliński, Aneta Dziemdziela, Rafał Gąsior, Barbara Grymm, Michal Hetmanski, Marcin Karolewicz, Łukasz Łata, PhD, MBA, Bartłomiej Orzeł, Zbyszek Podleśny. Special thanks go to Neil Sandford, CCR Energy, Global Centre Of Rail Excellence, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council 🏴, Mitchell Lloyd and Karoline O 🇬🇧 for hosting us.
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The Global Centre Of Rail Excellence is a development very much focused on the future. It will be a place where world class research, testing and innovation is done on the products, technologies and ideas that will power tomorrow's net zero railway and in turn help to rebuild local prosperity through new jobs and skills opportunities. But we know where we came from. The glorious landscape that surrounds us have been valleys of innovation for more than two hundred years. Iron, copper, coal, steel... the valleys of South Wales and the skills and expertise they been a home to helped to power the industrial revolution and made Wales one of the very first industrial nations. We want GCRE to be one of the next chapters in that story, helping the communities near to our site to become known for its engineering excellence once again, this time hosting Europe's premier site for rail innovation. And so as we progress, fusing that story of the past with the bright future ahead is going to be very important. We want to weave into the physical fabric of the site itself the rich legacy of these amazing valleys so visitors, customers and particularly young people around the site understand where GCRE came from. So today it was nice to give one of the old Nant Helen Coal Drams a new lick of paint and place it outside the office. #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #ValleysOfInnovation
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It was good to hear the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence mentioned in the House of Commons this week as a development of strategic significance for the UK by David Chadwick, MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe. GCRE has always been a project that has benefited from significant cross-party support and its great to see that continue. #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation
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It was brilliant to take part in this years European Week of Regions and Cities. Global Centre Of Rail Excellence Chief Commercial Officer Kelly Warburton spoke at a Vanguard Initiative panel in Brussels, alongside regional representatives from across Europe. They discussed the importance of international collaboration in research, development and innovation, focusing on the role of hydrogen on the path to net zero and its potential to create new jobs and skills. Kelly highlighted the role GCRE can play in aiding high quality research, testing and innovation in the rail and sustainable mobility sectors and aiding the decarbonisation of transport networks. GCRE is a development with significant commercial appeal across Europe and it was great to discuss the ways in which the facility can play a collaborative role, working with regions around the continent, to support innovation. #EURegionsWeek #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #Innovation
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It was great to meet up again with Yunqing Xuan, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Swansea University, and his colleagues for a Zienkiewicz Institute event this afternoon. The Institute advances research in modelling, data and AI to address climate challenges and the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence was one of the teams to present at the session. It was great to highlight the ways in which GCRE can collaborate with academic teams at Swansea and the Institute and support high quality research, both before and after our facility is fully operational. We look forward to hosting researchers from the Institute at the GCRE site in the near future for a visit. #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #Innovation #NetZero
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It was genuinely fantastic to welcome a delegation from Poland to the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence this morning. The study group included teams from the Łódzkie, Silesia and Wielkopolska regions as well as the Mayor of Radlin and representatives from the Polish Mining Group, the British Embassy Warsaw, Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government and NGOs involved in just transition and climate finance. Head of Business Development and Engagement Arthur Emyr and Head of Strategic Communications Andrew Johnson showed the group around the site, explaining the background to the GCRE development and the ambitions to create a world class facility for rail and sustainable mobility innovation on a former open cast site. A key part of the visit was discussing the regional economic importance of GCRE, in the context of four decades of de-industrialisation and the challenges posed by job losses at the Tata Steelworks. There was a lot of interest in GCRE as a template for how to regenerate a former mining landscape and support the communities around it with new jobs and skills opportunities in the net zero economy. There was also plenty of interest in taking the GCRE message back home because of the commercial support the facility can provide to Polish manufacturers and operators in the rail sector. A really great visit and glad the delegation got to see the spectacular views looking over Bannau Brycheiniog. Lots to collaborate on in the near future! #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation #Regeneration #NetZero #JustTransition
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The Global Centre Of Rail Excellence (GCRE) is delighted to be taking part in this years European Week of Regions and Cities. GCRE Chief Commercial Officer Kelly Warburton is speaking at a panel event later today linked to the Vanguard Initiative, a place-based European network working to boost regional innovation. The panel will focus on the importance of international collaboration in research, development and innovation to support a just transition. Kelly will be there to highlight the role GCRE can play in supporting high quality research, testing and innovation in the rail and sustainable mobility sectors and aiding the decarbonisation of transport networks. The panel will focus on the role of hydrogen on the path to net zero and its potential to create jobs and skills. GCRE is a development with huge commercial appeal across Europe and ready to play a collaborative role, working with regions around the continent, to support innovation. Really looking forward to the session. https://lnkd.in/dTJmjjwE #EURegionsWeek #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #Innovation
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The Global Centre Of Rail Excellence this week, as some restoration work progresses on parts of the 700-hectare site. We are extremely lucky to work at such a beautiful and dramatic location... #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #Wales
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There is still time to apply to be part of a fantastic new rail innovation competition, in partnership with Innovate UK, the Department for Business and Trade and the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence. The competition is calling on teams to develop new innovations that address major challenges in the global rail industry. A briefing event for the competition - Contracts for Innovation: International Rail Innovation Challenges - is available below where teams can also register to apply. The Competition closes on Wednesday 16th October at 11:00am - so get your skates on! The ideas encouraged through the competition include track innovations that minimise degradation of ballast and wheel systems; for vehicles, teams are invited to bring forward ideas to improve passenger comfort and aerodynamics; in operations ways to improve the transportation of hydrogen and loading of freight and in construction methods to support network resilience and the decarbonisation of concrete. More Info: https://lnkd.in/en3JAvPZ For the Briefing: https://lnkd.in/eD6BUYfq #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation