Rail transport is facing huge present and future challenges for which innovation and step changes are necessary. On the basis of its mission to support innovation in the railways, UIC launched the UIC Rail Research & Innovation Awards in 2012. The fifth awards ceremony took place on 7 December as part of UIC’s General Assembly.
The submissions for 2018 were evaluated by the jury, comprising the members of the International Rail Research Board (IRRB). From the more than 70 interesting submissions, six winners were selected - one for each of the thematic categories. In addition, two excellent researchers were awarded in two honorary categories.
The awards were presented to the winners or their representatives by UIC Director General, Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, and by Prof. Boris Lapidus, chairman of the IRRB. The winners were as follows:
- UIC Global Research & Innovation Award 2018 for Safety & Security: Mr Masahiro Korenaga, RTRI Japan, for his research on the development of algorithms for an earthquake early warning system using an ocean bottom seismic network
- UIC & KRRI Global Research & Innovation Award 2018 for Sustainable Development: Mr Ken Watanabe, RTRI Japan, for his research on prediction of the long-term behaviour of railway PC girders affected by creep and shrinkage of concrete
- UIC Global Research & Innovation Award 2018 for Rail System Technology: Mr Javier Goikoetxea, CAF Spain, for his research on virtual coupling of trains
- UIC & RTRI Global Research & Innovation Award 2018 for Rail Freight Service: Mr Seungho Jan and Mr Hee-Seung Na, KRRI South Korea, for their research on the innovative gauge-change bogie
- UIC Global Research & Innovation Award 2018 for Passenger Service: Mr Benjamin Lutz and his team at iMobility GmbH Austria for their research on the “Wegfinder” mobile app and platform on which users can search for their route, showing and comparing public transport options: car sharing, bike sharing, scooter sharing, car rental, taxi, etc.
- UIC Global Research & Innovation Award 2018 for Cost Reductions: Mr Itaru Matsumura, RTRI Japan, for his research on the development of a contactless OCS geometry measurement system
The winners of the two honorary awards were:
- UIC Global Research & Innovation Award 2018 for Best Young Researcher: Mr Milad Alizadeh Galdiani, RAI Iran, for his work on lateral resistance of ballasted track
- UIC Global Research & Innovation “Lifetime Achievement Award”: Prof. Mark Robinson, University of Newcastle and the NewRail Rail Research Institute, United Kingdom, for his long-lasting contribution to research for the innovation of the railways.
UIC wishes to congratulate all the winners on the excellent work and would also like to thank RTRI of Japan and KRRI of South Korea for their support as sponsors of the UIC awards.
You will be able to read more about the results of the research carried out by these winning researchers in future editions of UIC eNews.
