Let me tell you about RAILENIUM, an IRT
i.e., an institute for technology-intensive research
these slides are the same I used
on November 16, a session
I might well qualify as the date of creation
of the foundation.
Here are the key points for my talk
descrining the ambitions we have for
for the programme and its objectives.
The I talk about the sequencing of signatures,
a status report and the next stages,
and then I shall indicate some points
about our research programme
insisting on Programme n°7
which is my personal area of responsibilty
which I conduct and overview
at UTC-Compiègne.
Now, moving to the question
of investments for the programme
and I think you are aware of these,
I show them as a reminder.
In June, 22nd June to be precise
a decision will be made as to loans we need
then on the 26th and the 29th
Rocard and his colleagues did some calculations
enabling us to set our priorities
and the associate programme details
finally in December
the decision was made by Government
to launch the future investment programmes
I think you all know about
these PIAs.
Next question is
how does our IRT relate to this?
This slide is in fact a Government chart,
viz., it is on the PM's Matignon website.
You can observe that the IRTs
for technology are in fact oriented
more to research covering
industrial aims and objectives
but there is an interface
with our world of academics.
I'll come back to that point.
In short, what we have
is an interface and it is here
that we carry out our research.
This slide is quite "standard"
so, let's not waste time on it.
In rgards to how RAILENIUM
is positioned. What we may ask
is it perimeter?
We had lots of
strategic orientation discussions
including things like rolling stock
etc.
Finally we reached a consensus
an,d as far as expenses are concerned
we orient our choices more to
infrastructure issues.
As far as the tracks are concerned,
platforms, bridges, etc.,
railroad power supplies,
control & command, the data processing systems,
data exchange units as well as all the interfaces
with the rolling stock.
Tracks - youimay noyt know this -
are sbject to wear as trains pass
otherwise nothing would happen.
If you only lay tracks,
i.e., no trains and therefore no wear.
These are some of the "contracts"
development of railroads
the idea - development of urban area networks
and now the new generations
of networks.
A complete industrial ecosystem
with - obviously - all the
infrastructure managers, the railroad companies,
suppliers, engineering companies,
technology offer agents,
and so on, and so forth.
And of cours ethe research centres
since we saw that there is an interface
wit the academic world.
That, in short, is the ambition
assigned to RAILENIUM is to be at least
a European scale benchmark
indeed, with worldwide scope.
i.e., the aim is to be world class.
and rank as the #1
world leader in railroad studies.
Among our objectfives - increase the reliability,
availability, maintainability factors
and track safety.
Hence we must develop associate techniques
on the tracks themselves,
and materals that run on these railtracks,
reducing the development cycles
I'll come back to this point later
and facilitate certification,
and likewise encourage the design mode
for railroads and develop a foresight vision
as to the ties between urban, planning and mobility
As you can see there are lots of subjects
on what we call the road-map,
but what in fact is quite easy,
is to make a long-lasting infrastructure.
It has to last for a long time,
and be more efficient, naturally,
and safer too
what we must avoid at all costs
are derailments,
the railroad must be "smarter", viz.,
capable of signalling its real-time state,
that is also planned for.
Ideally, if a problem arises
if an infrastructure fails,
it can signal this fact,
that is what we call being "smart".
and lastmy we must aim at producing
railroad infrastructures more rapidly
and certifiable at the same pace
and I'll come back to that point.
How is RAILENIUM governed?
what is the organisation today ?
we held lots of discussions about this
and finalluy we converged on the idea of
setting up a scientific cooperation foundation.
The foundation will carry out
the research studies,
plus the training
and the valorisation of results
plus support for innovation.
In a sense, we work indepndently.
In parallel, we shall set up what are known as
simplified shares companies
allowing us to exploit the results
that will be forthcoming
from the RAILENIUM test-beds.
I won't go into details here
at Aulnoye (the test site)
there will be three heavy rigs
a "cicular" railtrack.
Plus a systemic analysis test rig
allowing us to analyse the problems
related to wheel-track contact questions.
Following this,
if finances permit, we shall install
a fatigue rig
to model how train bogies wear
on our high-speed tracks.
Here are the members of the foundation,
I'm giving you this information
but I'm not sure they are public
or close to being released.
To summarise, there are
eight research establishments
so the only resercah unit in the Picardie Region
is UTC.
All the Universities of the Nord Pas de Calais 'department'
are involved,
and the PRES-Lille but I don't want to cite them all
and, anyway, you know them all.
There is the competitivity cluster i-TRANS
which played an important
supporting role.
There are 18 industrialists but you
also know them perfectly well,
the slidce is not complete but all the French actors
in railroad acivities are represented.
but more than this,
we can add,
engineering companies, software editors
for example the ESI Group
who was a Founder Member
in RAILENIUM,
steel-makers such as Tata Steel
any many more.
Equipment assemblers
such as Alstom, but not Bombardier
but no doubt ther are reasons
but it is not my place to explain this.
Local authorities, we have of course
The Picardie Regional Authority,
shown clearly here
and also the wider "communities".
Not an obvious equation, but we make do with it.
The amion challenges
for the Foundation members and the partners,
for RFF and the infrastructure managers
we are doing more or less the same thing
to boost the "sustainability" of infrastructures
so they can be used for longer
and cost less
because railroads cost an enormous amount
I haven't the figures with me but they are huge.
So in order to develop new structures
we need new saferty measures, and contro procedures
this covers all track equipment
and more.
As far as the industrialists and equipment manufacturers
and public works groups, such as Bouygues
who were among the founder members.
It aims at reducing delivery times and and costs
for market readiness.
Developing highly competitive research
that is important for us,
priviledging public-private partnerships
to carry out the research programme.
Theb, for the research establishments
the development of research
with the industrial partners,
is now very common,
and makes for substantial test possibilities
which we shall see installed at Aulnoye
In regard to i-TRANS (I'm looking at my colleague
seated there in front of me),
their aim is to implement and install the rigs
on a collaborative basis and we rtely on you
to pursue this partnership
an d then of course to accompany the
SMEs involved, to help them develop innovations
I feel this is an aim shared by all of us.
And for local authorities to strengthen
railroad professional callings,
developing private research activities,
look here at the right hand side,
towards industry
and then do economic development
in this potentially rewarding sector.
The contract terms,
the business information
I can, I think, share with you
but the again I'm not sure I am
allowed to show this slide,
with the founders' commitments -
you can see the figures here
which speak for themselves.
The initial three year allocations,
amount to some 10 Meuros,
the additional sums, covering
the next 4 to 5 years
amount, let's say, to 9 Meuros
for the partners' commitments
in the Foundation because we have
in fact a set of associate partners
who will contribute some 2.2 Meuros,
the Government "PIA" contribution
is not totally clear as yet
and we have to be careful about communicating
on these sensitive matter;
we are expecting some 5.6 Meuros to cover
the first three years.
And the grants we are expecting
will come mainly from
the Nord Pas de Calais regional authorities
amountingh to 7 Meuros.
If you add these all together
investments amounts to 7 Meuros
and oeartional expenditure
to 35 Meuros,
In regard to the call for projects we submitted to
to the ministry in charge of HE and research,
the 10 year budget amounts to 500 Meuros
ande we are not the largest IRT
that I can safely say.
There again, we are the only IRT
focussed on a very specific actoivity.
So, what will the next steps be?
In the past, there was the call for
a show of interest, in 2010,
in February, there were the auditions
in the relevant ministries,
and in May we heard the good news
that we had been selected from among 6 qualified candidate IRTs;
in August, an overview report was drafted
with discussions at the ANR
to verify the project state of readiness.
Then we signed the FCS agreement - I'll not go into details
with our partners
then we came to November 16.
It took a littrle while to be
published in the"journal officiel" (=Hansard)
for the State, it takes a month tp
a month and a half, so we hope
that by January, we will be properly set up and ready
So, at this point in time, we're not quite finished
with that part of the story.
I, in fact, we a step ahead of this slide
where we see the founder signatories' ceremony
that we organised on November 16,
In Januart we hope to see the official
creation decree and election of the Board
tyat would occur in the first quarter of 2012.
The rest is just the details.
important as they are, certainly
but the test rigs represent very heavy equipment
and cost huge amounts
we therefore hope that by 2017
the three main test rigs
will be operational.
Let me skip this slide.
Let me outline a little
our research programmes
as Anne (here) asked me to do.
Our IRT
comprises eight research programmes
and I'll cover these rapidly, just
to give you a jist of what we plan.
Programme n°1 relates to
Processes and Materials,
In the latter, we have metals
obviously for the tracks, etc;
but we shall also investigate composites 315
studying possible composite materials
such as the stone ballasts
which are in fact quite complex.
Here the moderator is the University of Lille.
Programme n°2 covers mainly civil engineering works
and here the responbsility for what we call
the fatigue rig lies with ISTAR
pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas ISTAR
in factt a combination of the Central Lab of
ESPC formerly known as INREX
i.e., a research establishment
and a foundation.
They are responsible for the fatigue rig
and other connections with civil engineering works.
Programme n°3 looks at
energy/power questions
as in its title,
Programme n° 4 relates to infra-véhicular "smart" interactions
which involves telecom and EDP,
also known as TICs.
Programme n°5 covers
engineering, metrology, operations and testing
which implies that we are going to equip
the track circuity to oabtian data
via optical and ultrasonic sensors
to explore what is happening at the track level.
The moderator here is the University of Valenciennes
i.e., in charge of Programme 5.
Programme n°6 relates to data processing (EDP)
and is also addressed by the
University of Valenciennes,
as Programme moderator.
Programme n°7 relates to
pre-certification of virtual equipment
we model to achieve pre-certification
and I can now detail this a little more.
The moderator is UTC-Compiègne
and I personnaly drafted the Programme remit
with a few colleagues.
And the final Programme, N°8, deals with economics
and sustainable land planning.
You can observe that we have quite a few programmes.
Eight, all together.
How are we organised?
And let me take as my example,
the programme I know best
related to our Picardie Region.
This rserach programme is entitled
Digital Modelling and Virtual Prototyping
for the purpose of vitual pre-certification.
What are our aims?
Virtual Prototyping with a computer
for pre-certification of products
is used today by every industrialist
and I have in mind the numerous contcats
I have had for a long time now,
who acknowledge that it has become 372
a really strategic tool to reduce costs
and the number of tests needed for certification
or to develop
existing products.
What is the aim here?
Obviously, cost reduction
and better delivery dates.
I have mentioned these essential aims
so I'll forego reading the text,
now this slide, I think, I can
show you if and when approved.
It sets out the five research thematics,
the research, development and innovation.
Theme #1 is the state-of-the-art
and Technical Specs, as needed
of what already exists round the world.
We have work to do here with
the industrialists and research scientists.
Theme # 2 is to design a systemic test rig
to analyse the rail-wheel-track
interactuiions. It is a rig
that sets cost levels of magnitude
we are talking about close on 10 Meuros
for the test rig alone.
It also looks at climatic constraints.
Theme #3 investigates
optimisation of components and sub-systems
also by modelling.
Theme #4 is track-vehicle modelling
whea train progresses,
there are software packages ,
one used, for example, at ISTAR,
one also in Germany,
allowing a calculation of a
derailment risk, for example.
And that, effectively, is in the certification protocol
and of course there is the wear factor.
Lastly, what we aim at
in the long term
is to assure control,i.e.,
are we capable of pre-certifying tracks
the train , safety factors
I shall not decribe each factor separately
but, for example, if we want to assess state of the art
what does this imply?
We have to make an inventory including
the software packages used
by equipment suppliers and manufacturers
and not only in the railroad sector,
in fcat, historically speaking
railroads have remained very conservative
and still use lots of testing,
preferring that to computations
contrary to aeronautics, space
and automobiles today.
So, we have a lot of work to do
I'll spare you the details
gaining a little time here.
Theme 2,
designing and assembling a systemic test rig
where the idea is to select
the tools first and then use them
to design the rig
in advance, just by computation, before we assemble it
whereas normally we proceed in reverse,
We have to identify tools
install them and use them.
Theme 3 :studies and optimisation
on component parts, where the aim is
to reduce failures, as far as possible,
at component or system level
using digital techiques
and multi-physical protocols.
Ideally, we must not await accidents
but rather pre-identify them using
computational tools.
This in fact is what happens in other industrial sectors
so why should we not succeed for railways?
Theme 4 relaytes to modelling the dynamics
of wheel-rail interactions.
Here the aim is to develop digital models
and software packages to assess the forces at play
betwen the track rails
and whatever is rolling on them.
We need to do some physics to check the
validity of the stress/strain factors.
Our obvious aim here is to be able
to pre-certify using computations
i.e., tochecj is we are really capable
of certifying the track forces
or certain components, by calculation
which would be an ideal result
one of the truly major objectives
in the RAILENIUM programme.
We have a pre-set planning,
within RAILENIUM,
and we are trying to follow this plan,
today we are working very hard indeed
- selection is not the be-all, end-all
we must be capable to put projects together
and to follow them through.
It is a major job in its own right.
We shall be working on three sorts of project,
those that will be financed
as training modules,
I think we have a key difference here
with i-TRANS TRANS inasmuch as the means needed
will exist, in principle.
Then we have the co-operative projects,
implyin a work orgnaisation where
RAILENIUM will not initially incur expenses
from its own funds
and we shall act as a lever -
let me now give you an example.
And lastly we have the bilateral projects
which means that it is not forbidden
for parteners to share projects
or engage with partners external to RAILENIUM,
etc.
That is what we are working on at the moment.
Now the example
I think all of you have
heard of AMI ADEME related to
railroad transportation
and we are working on this currently,
and I personally am the moderator,
representiny us at the fifth meeting
held with the SNCF to put together a twofold project
pne aspect being to design and assemble the test rig
while the other aspects covers
digital modelling issues.
It is my hope ...
and we shall see if ADEME agrees here,
that we work strictly in parallel.
There is no point in our proceeding separately
unless we want to lose sight of our objective;
a method that does not give satisfactory results
is equivalent to simply doing nothing
That is the global idea
I need to give details at this point.
Today, this is where we stand.
Now, regarding programme n°7
clearly there is a question of overall coordination
and this calls for an industrial moderator,
the good news is that we have such a person
but not easy to find
I shall withold his name, as things may change.
First of all, in principle,we shall define
the technical specifications of the needs
inspired by logic prevailing
in aeronautics and the space sector 526
You move right - you move left
perceive a synoptic logic
that we are perfecting currently.
Clearly the idea on the rightis to go
as far as as the detailed design of the test rig
and I stress this, using the tools
on the left.
We shall progress from the existing
fixing its limitations
then we shall launch the specific software programmes
once we have determined the limits of the tools available
by this I mean today.
This represents a programme
that matches the call for projects issued by ADEME.
I shall, again, not go into details
but if you have any questions,
and we shal; be applying,
hopefully, before January 17.
All of which entails an enormous amount of work.
So, thanks to all of you.
(applause)