Introduction

Environmental, economic and political pressures are expected to increase the emphasis on rail travel as a real alternative means of transportation. Significant growth is expected in both passenger and freight traffic over the next 20 years. The challenge of creating safe, energy efficient trains that provide the traveller with comfortable ride experience and new on-board technologies such as internet connectivity is something that will require engineers to share knowledge across the world. 

Increasing capacity is also crucial for enabling the railways’ sustainable future and there are many projects taking place across all the railway systems and sub-systems which aim to improve energy and operational efficiency whilst increasing capacity.

Call for papers

The organising committee welcomes submissions that offer technical advancements from ongoing industrial projects or new research, in both mainline and metro environments, that will contribute to engineering the sustainability of the railways in the following technical areas:

• Rolling stock design and maintenance (traction and systems)
• Power generation
• Operations
• Infrastructure design and maintenance
• Signaling and train control
• Communications
• Life-cycle management

Who should submit a paper?

This seminar is a unique opportunity for engineers at the start of their careers or those moving into the rail industry from other disciplines to present a paper to their peers to explore this subject.

Submission procedure

Prospective authors are invited to submit a one-page abstract of the proposed paper by Friday, 5 September 2008 (with their contact postal address, telephone number and email address) to:

Prospective authors wishing to discuss technical issues can contact Rowan Joachim at London Underground.