Global Centre Of Rail Excellence

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

It was a pleasure to be at the Connected Places Catapult Summit today in London. Global Centre Of Rail Excellence Chief Executive Simon Jones took part in a rail innovation roundtable, 'Shaping the Future of Rail: Innovations for Tomorrow's Transport' and talked about the GCRE opportunity. Our ambition is to establish the Global Centre of Rail Excellence as an internationally significant site for rail and sustainable mobility innovation. A facility for world class research, testing and showcasing of new technologies and ideas that can become the backbone of tomorrow’s stronger, greener and more affordable net zero transport systems.   The catalytic impact of GCRE is significant. What will be tested and developed at our facility will then be cascaded into transport and metro systems across the world. More effective, more affordable and more reliable infrastructure on the path to 2050. GCRE is an opportunity in and of itself, but what will maximise its impact is by embedding it into the new landscape of rail reform, partnering with GBR and others to transform innovation in rail and indeed, the way we plan and deliver infrastructure itself.  It was great to talk about that opportunity today. #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation #CPSummit25

Prep day... Ahead of the Innovation in Railway Construction Demonstration Day being held tomorrow at the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence. The event will be a live showcase at GCRE of twelve new and ground-breaking rail technology projects funded through the £7.4m Innovate UK / Department for Business and Trade Innovation In Railway Construction Programme. Can't wait! #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation

Its preparation time for the Innovation in Railway Construction Demonstration Day being held tomorrow at the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence. The event will be a live showcase at GCRE of twelve new and ground-breaking rail technology projects funded through the £7.4m Innovate UK / Department for Business and Trade Innovation In Railway Construction Programme. Good luck to everyone demonstrating! #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation Kelvin Davies

There were crystal blue skies above the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence yesterday as the team welcomed Martin Jones, Chief Engineer at Network Rail to the site. Director of Strategy and Skills Robert Forde ChPP and Chief Technology Officer Prof. Andy Doherty took Martin on a tour and discussed plans to develop the site as a world class hub for rail research, testing and innovation. Last year GCRE announced a strategic partnership with Network Rail aimed at accelerating innovation in UK rail. It was good to discuss that collaboration with Martin and to highlight the unique capabilities that GCRE will offer the industry in the coming years. #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation

Fitting electrification cantilevers is normally great exercise, but when they are this light, it is too much of a doddle. Today was the last day of installation of our composite cantilevers, prior to demo day on Thursday at the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence. What a glorious day for it! Huge thanks to Rail Ops, Mariusz Sledz, and the Furrer+Frey AG team. If you are coming to the Innovate UK: Innovation in Railway Construction Demonstration Day, bring some sunscreen. 😎

As well as being a site for product and technology innovation, the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence will also serve as a centre for high quality academic research. The infrastructure, skills and facilities we will have available on site will support research in a range of industrial areas and academic disciplines. Thats why it was great to welcome Simran Mahil and Thomas Rothwell to GCRE recently. Civil Engineering students at Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd they had a guided tour around the site and heard more about our plans to establish GCRE as a world class centre for rail and mobility testing, development and showcasing. They also took the opportunity to take some soil samples for some research they were conducting! Good luck with your projects, both! #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #Research Cardiff University School of Engineering

It was really good to welcome the Colas Rail Freight team to the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence recently - Tim Brewin, Bob Wilkes MCIRO and Simon Metcalf. GCRE will provide opportunities for high quality rail freight testing and R&D, adding new capability to the sector over the next few years. As we look to achieve our #NetZero ambitions, its important we shift more goods transportation in our economy onto a sustainable rail network to lower emissions. Innovation will be critical to that. It was great to discuss those opportunities with the Colas team and ways in which we can collaborate. Our thanks to the Colas guys for making the trip! #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #RailInnovation

It was great to show the Diwydiant Cymru - Industry Wales team around the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence site recently. GCRE has the potential to become a new magnet of strength in the Welsh economy, supporting South West Wales to build new capability as an international leader in rail research, testing and innovation. It was good to discuss the GCRE vision with Alex Feeney and Mike Gillard. At a time when the regional economy is going through a very challenging time as a result of job losses at the Tata Steelworks, GCRE is one of the ways in which active industrial strategy can support individuals, communities and the supply chain in the area. #GCRE #GlobalCentreOfRailExcellence #Innovation

St Patrick is thought to have been born just across the road from the Global Centre Of Rail Excellence... Happy St Patrick's Day!! #StPatrick