Fewer delays and more efficient rail with new research
Luleå University of Technology and Railway Research Center (JVTC), which belongs to the university, will over the next four years conduct research for better rail services. Rail industry with Transport Administration, EU, LKAB and others are investing over four years totaling approximately 100 million SEK on research at the university that will provide higher capacity and more robust railways
- For Sweden's knowledge and innovation needs, it means that LTU had the exact timing with the research application and its focus, said Uday Kumar, professor of operations and maintenance at the university and director of JVTC.
LTU's and JVTC's initiative is in line with the government targeting to invest in research for better maintenance and grooming of the railway system. The interaction model of the university center of excellence JVTC, with the industry in focus, has proven to give good results of the invested money.
- The research initiative will enable Sweden to strengthen the knowledge infrastructure with fewer delays and to better utilize the facilities, which are the basis for enhanced competitiveness in Sweden, says Per-Olof Larsson Kråik, Transport Administration, who is also an adjunct professor at Luleå University.
In addition to research in JVTC also trained specialists in the operation and maintenance at the university and get jobs after completing their studies at companies that need those skills. One of the players in JVTC is the mining company LKAB, which invests money in railway research and see great benefit from it, not least in view of the expansion that is expected in the industry
- Now that we face the next challenge which is to increase the capacity of the ore line from 28-37 million tons and in the future, perhaps upwards of 50 million tons, we need the support of the parties who are here and then it is natural that we turn to Luleå University of Technology said Thomas Nordmark, which is responsible for developing ore traffic in LKAB.
In recent years, bottlenecks on the railways, especially in winter, the Transport Administration need to come up with solutions so that the robustness of the rail system is getting better and have higher capacity. The solutions is to be found within the framework of cooperation between industry and researchers in JVTC. Even now operates JVTC research that is directly focused on capacity problems in large cities.
- The knowledge that are developed now and in the future leads to that the Transport Administration, LKAB, and all the players can anticipate what needs to be done before it fails, for example, so that the braking system are not rendered inoperative due to icing. De-icing is a big problem in Sweden and not least in the northern parts of the country, says Rune Lindberg, Transport Board and JVTC's chairman.
Calculations show that JVTC's interaction model provides great dividends on the money spent by various actors involved. It is about 5 times back in the form of knowledge and innovation and where JVTC are involved in EU projects are exchanged every research SEK up 50-60 times in the form of new knowledge. Within JVTC interact today Transport Administration, ÅF, WSP, Vectura, ALSTOM, LKAB, Tyréns, Vossloh, Norut, Duroc, Etteplan Jernbaneverket and Euromaint. Several companies are queuing up to join JVTC, for example, SJ.
