A team of ten graduate engineers and apprentices from Alstom are gearing up to compete in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Railway Challenge, taking place on 29 June-2 July 2017 at the Stapleford Miniature Railway near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
The competition will see 12 teams compete against each other to design and manufacture the best, most innovative, efficient and quietest small-scale locomotive.
Eleftherios Belelis, Railway Challenge Project Manager from Alstom said about the team’s involvement in the competition:
“Taking part in the Railway Challenge gives us the opportunity to put our imagination and resourcefulness to the test.
“As graduate engineers, the experience will be invaluable to the whole team in our future careers and we are looking forward to the final competition in June.
Cillian Lynch, graduate mechanical design lead added:
“Alstom’s entry was developed by graduates and apprentices as a part time project over the course of two years, in addition to our day to day work i.e. graduate trainee placements in projects and also supporting train fleets across the UK and Europe.
“Presenting our progress on the project quarterly to senior management in the company, the Railway Challenge has helped us develop invaluable skills in rolling stock design, traction systems, project management, material sourcing and manufacturing. The realisation of the project stands as significant achievement for us early on in our careers, and is testament to Alstom’s commitment to addressing the urgent skills shortages affecting the rail industry in the UK & Ireland”
Philippa Oldham, Head of Transport and Manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said:
“The Railway Challenge gives competitors a fantastic chance to test their engineering skills and get the hands-on experience of what’s needed to make a locomotive from start to finish.
“Each year the entries impress the judges with new innovations, of particular note are the solutions proposed for the energy storage and energy efficiency challenges. These are two big issues currently being faced by manufacturers and so solving these challenges could mean that these young engineers could help to revolutionise our modern railways.
“This year looks set to be a tight contest, with more teams than ever and three previous winners taking part.”
The competition comprises of a series of track based and presentation challenges, including a design report and an ‘Innovation Challenge’ which involves the production of an academic paper on the innovations in the loco. The track based challenges include: energy storage, traction, ride comfort, noise, maintainability and energy efficiency.
The locomotives that will be competing are designed to work on 10¼” gauge railway line and must be powerful enough to transport a 600kg load – including one of the Railway Challenge judges.
The teams competing this year are:
Alstom UK & Ireland
University of Birmingham
Bombardier/Derby University
Brunel University
FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences
Manchester Metropolitan University
University of Huddersfield (winners in 2013)
SNC-Lavalin (winners in 2012 and 2016)
University of Sheffield
University of Southampton
TfL (winners in 2014 and 2015)
WMG, University of Warwick
The competition will take place from Thursday 29 June to Sunday 2 July 2017 at Stapleford Miniature Railway in Leicestershire.