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Research and Reports

A database of documents and reports released by industry bodies. You can download the document by clicking on its title, and can filter reports by author or subject. If you have a report you would like to submit to the Rail Hub, please email [email protected].

 

  • Fast Track to digital railway

    31/10/2017
    Balfour Beatty SearchResearchItems

    “The relationship between Network Rail and its supply chain will have to evolve from being largely transactional… to a partnership approach based on a longer-term strategic vision”. That’s according to this paper from Balfour Beatty considering how to deliver the ‘digital railway’ and unlock capacity. Other key points include that the private sector “has an important role to play” (such as through ‘Design, Build, Fund, Operate, Maintain’ concessions); considering all aspects of the railway as an integrated whole, and investing in skills.

  • Innovation 2050: a digital future for the infrastructure industry

    01/07/2017
    Balfour Beatty SearchResearchItems

    Direct neural control of devices; 3D and 4D printing; and human-free building sites - such are some of the predictions from Balfour Beatty about the future of construction. Recommendations include ensuring regulatory systems are ready; future-proofing new infrastructure; and taking the problems of cyber security seriously. “Those companies at the forefront of the digital revolution, which integrate new technologies most effectively, updating their business capabilities and their offer,” the report says, “will reap the biggest rewards.”

  • Staying on track: How the right funding model can drive skills and technology in the rail industry

    01/02/2017
    Balfour Beatty SearchResearchItems

    While this paper argues that the “ambitious upgrade and enlargement of the UK’s rail infrastructure has the potential to drive economic expansion” it also says that “future success of the rail industry is inextricable from the continuity of funding”. “The projected stop-go pattern of the project pipeline - a function of Network Rail’s funding model and, in a way, its perceived performance - must be addressed and resolved as a matter urgency.”

  • Small scale, big impact: Infrastructure and economic regeneration

    10/11/2016
    Balfour Beatty SearchResearchItems

    Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty argues that the UK government “could take advantage of the current ultra-low government borrowing costs to finance spending”. It recommends spending on “shovel ready” infrastructure projects, with rail suggestions including platform extensions, speeding up or accelerating modernisation of London Underground, and improving the Felixstowe docks link. However the paper also argues “this investment should not be undertaken at the expense of larger, strategically important national schemes” - such as High Speed 2.