Institution news
The Network Rail and Colas Rail team, who are first-time winners of Railway Challenge, have done so in style by winning a challenge in each of the the on-track, optional and presentation categories.
Coming in at second place were Team EAGLE from TH Nürnberg with the fh2rail team from FH Aachen landing third place overall.
The 2025 competition saw four teams enter the Entry Level category, which is open to teams from institutions which have not previously participated in the competition and the intention is that this provides teams with a stepping stone towards a full entry in a future year.
This is only the second year the Entry Level element of Railway Challenge has run, and for the second year running a team from outside of Europe has taken part with Monash University's Monash Railway Express joining us all the way from Melbourne, Australia. Alongside Monash, Anglia Ruskin University's Team Heron, Cambridge University Locomotive Engineers' Society and the Guided Ways Railway Challenge (GWRC) team from ESTACA, France all competed against each other in the Railway Challenge Entry Level competition. They submitted designs of their proposed locomotives which had to follow all the rules of the main competition as well as a CAD model to demonstrate the overall structure of their locomotive and a more detailed design of one chosen sub-system, in addition to competing in all of the other presentation challenges: Business Case, Technical and Aesthetic Poster, Innovation, and Design.
Congratulations to GWRC team who are the overall winners of the Railway Challenge 2025 Entry Level competition as well as the Team Heron from Anglia Ruskin University, who won the CAD award open to the Entry Level teams who produce the best Computer Aided Design report.
New for 2025 was the optional 'Ride-on locomotive challenge' where drivers can ride on the locomotives rather than operate them from a coach behind the loco, provided that teams can demonstrate to the judges that this can be done safely. Returning optional challenges included the ‘Autocoupler challenge’ (the locomotive that most efficiently coupled and uncoupled automatically) and the 'location announcement challenge' (the locomotive with the best location announcement system).
The 2025 event also saw the grand opening of a turntable constructed at Stapleford Miniature Railway which was unveiled by Lord Gretton, Railway Challenge Organising Committee Chair Simon Iwnicki and IMechE Chief Executive Alice Bunn. This newly constructed turntable allows the number of locomotives to be increased from the current limit of 14 to 30 and would not have been made possible without the support of Lord Gretton, volunteers from the Friends of the Stapleford Miniature Railway, Network Rail, AtkinsRéalis, Alstom, HS2, the Universities of Huddersfield and Sheffield, Reading Pneumatic Services Ltd, Metal World Engineering, Priority Plant Ltd and others.
Well done to all of the teams who took part in the 2025 Railway Challenge and thank you to our sponsors Angel Trains, AtkinsRéalis, RSSB, our supporter Network Rail as well as the Pamela and David Rollin Foundation.
The full list of Railway Challenge 2025 competition category winners are listed as follows in addition to the overall results including track, optional and presentational challenges:
Overall winners
- Grand Champion: Network Rail and Colas Rail
- Runner-up: Team EAGLE, TH Nürnberg
- Third place: fh2rail, FH Aachen
- Best Entry Level team: Guided Ways Railway Challenge (GWRC), École supérieure des techniques aéronautiques et de construction automobile (ESTACA)
Main on-track challenges
- Auto-Stop: Team EAGLE, TH Nürnberg
- Ride Comfort: Railway Challenge at Sheffield, The University of Sheffield
- Energy Storage: Network Rail and Colas Rail
- Traction: PUTrain, Poznań University of Technology
- Reliability: The Derby Express, University of Derby & Alstom
- Maintainability: fh2rail, FH Aachen
Optional challenges
- Autocoupler: Network Rail and Colas Rail
- Aerodynamic Drag: PUTrain, Poznań University of Technology
- Ride-on Locomotive: PUTrain, Poznań University of Technology
- Location Announcement: Team EAGLE, TH Nürnberg
- Remote Data Recording: No winner
Presentational challenges
- Design: Transport for London
- CAD: Team Heron, Anglia Ruskin University
- Business Case: Network Rail and Colas Rail
- Technical and Aesthetic Poster: Railway Challenge at Sheffield, The University of Sheffield
- Innovation: Railway Challenge at Sheffield, The University of Sheffield
Scoreboard and final positions
