Delivering on its promise to put passengers first, the Department
for Transport (DfT)
has made £5 million funding available to winning projects as part
of the First of a Kind (FOAK) competition.
Opening today (7 April 2025), in partnership with Innovate
UK, the First of a Kind
competition offers grant funding for innovative projects to be
tested on the railway, to give them a better chance at being
bought by train operators, freight companies and Network Rail.
This will help to deliver better services for passengers,
encouraging more people to take the train and supporting growth
as part of the government's Plan for Change.
For the first time since starting the competition, Innovate
UK consulted closely with
industry to identify the top challenges it faces. Given the clear
direction of the Transport Secretary to put passengers at the
heart of every journey, this year's competition will be funding
projects that focus on:
- passenger experience, particularly improving safety through
reporting tools that could help reduce violence against women and
girls and anti-social behaviour
- accessibility, including level boarding
- artificial intelligence (AI) and data collection, for
example, prevention and recovery of rail bridge crash incidents
- greener railways, using AI to drive sustainability and
reduce waste
Level boarding – meaning passengers who need assistance can board
unaided – is one of the key issues that mean disabled people need
assistance to get from street to seat. Accessibility is a core
priority for this government and will be a central mission for
Great British Railways and FOAK funding will help make
these improvements happen.
Everyone should feel confident they will be safe when travelling
by train. The government's Plan for Change commits to cracking
down on anti-social behaviour, raising standards and driving up
confidence in the police. DfT is driving this forward by
funding projects that will address safety on the railways, for
example, tools to report anti-social behaviour, or addressing
challenges that influence travel choices for example violence
against women and girls stopping women from taking trains late at
night.
Rail Minister, Lord , said:
This competition addresses the biggest challenges facing the rail
industry, taking cutting-edge technology and bringing it onto the
railways by turning ideas into reality.
This funding builds a platform for boosting innovation on the
railway, giving new technologies a chance to succeed, supporting
economic growth as part of the Plan for Change.
We are creating a railway that works better for the people who
use it and making lasting progress for passengers and freight by
improving accessibility, safety and reliability to prevent
disruption before it happens.
This £5 million of government funding will help to address one of
the key challenges organisations with new innovative ideas face,
which is securing funding and being able to demonstrate that
their projects work. The First of a Kind competition, over the 8
years it has been running, has provided £58 million of funding to
179 successful projects.
For example, one successful project that's already been widely
taken up on the railways is Trains with Brains, an AI sensor onboard trains that
monitors where maintenance on the tracks is needed and reports on
infrastructure defects that need fixing, making the network
safer, more efficient and more reliable.
Another project, One Big Circle, using AI allowing users to monitor
things like track conditions and electrical faults online, won
the King's Award for Innovation.
The Secretary of State has also made strategic innovation one of
the 5 areas of focus for Shadow Great British Railways, bringing
together leaders of DfT, Department for Transport
Operator and Network Rail. Work has already started with GBRX, an
innovation body sitting under Network Rail challenging and
changing the historically slow adoption of new innovations. GBRX
is already convening industry and academia to collaborate more
effectively and embrace new technology.
Mike Biddle, Executive Director for Net Zero at Innovate
UK, said
The innovations sought through this competition will help create
a more accessible, safer and efficient railway system throughout
the UK.
The competition highlights the importance of collaboration with
industry partners to deliver high-maturity demonstration to
ensure seamless integration into the existing railway
infrastructure.
Delivered by Innovate UK on
behalf of the Department for Transport, the competition aims to
identify and support outstanding, innovative solutions. In
previous rounds, companies from across the UK have demonstrated the creativity and
impact of their ideas through live demonstrations.
The competition opens today and organisations will have until 28
May to submit their projects.
Innovate
UK will be hosting an online
briefing event for potential participantstomorrow (8 April
2025) to explain how the competition works and how to apply.
