The Welsh government pointed to the industry and local economic benefits. Credit: AlanMorris / Shutterstock.com.

Three UK universities have received £15m to establish a new Centre of Excellence for Railway Testing, Validation and Customer Experience within the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) project. 

The new funds will back up innovation as well as research and development by encouraging collaboration between educators and industry experts. 

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The Testing, Validation and Customer Experience centre is expected to open in 2025 and will be led by the University of Birmingham’s Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) in partnership with Cardiff University and Swansea University. 

Funded by both the Welsh government and the UK government, GCRE is being built at the site of the Nant Helen former mine in Onllwyn at the head of the Dulais and Tawe valleys, on the regional border of Powys and Neath Port Talbot. The site is 25km from Swansea University.

BCRRE director Clive Roberts said the new arm of the GCRE will expedite the journey from idea to commercial product: “With this new funding our aim is to have the capabilities and tools to enable innovations to progress from a great idea more effectively to a commercial solution by reducing the cost and risk of projects through the development process.”  

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The Welsh government has led the investment in the GCRE and pointed to both the benefits for the wider rail industry and the Welsh economy with a focus on the regeneration of fossil fuel industry sites. 

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“The Global Centre of Rail Excellence in the Dulais Valley is one of the most critical and creative infrastructure projects happening anywhere in Europe,” said Lee Water MS, deputy climate change minister of the Welsh government. 

“The award of this new funding to further develop unique research and development facilities, in partnership with the Universities of Birmingham, Cardiff and Swansea is a huge vote of confidence in Wales as we continue to sustain and build an innovative, competitive and greener economy.”