In search of a safer, more profitable and more efficient railway system

Carlos III University of Madrid
June 20, 2011

In spite of the fact that the railway industry has two centuries of experience behind it, in order to continue improving the research being done on the safety, profitability and efficiency of railroads, it will be necessary to develop and strengthen the relationship between universities and companies in the sector. This is one of the main conclusions that have come out of an international forum on the subject that was recently held at Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M).

The forum, the First European Forum on Railway Running Gears, organized by the European Association of Railway Personnel, UC3M’s Pedro Juan de Lastanosa Institute of Technology, and the MAQLAB research group of the University’s Mechanical Engineering Department, was the first of its kind dedicated exclusively to railway running gears, with the hope that it would be the beginning of a scientific discussion and the exchange of ideas, leading to advances on a European scale. In this second decade of the 21st century, railroads are presented as a highly competitive solution for transporting both travelers and freight. Trains’ high levels of energy efficiency, reliability, and safety, their excellent integration into the environment, their relatively low costs and, finally, their speed seem to indicate that they will play a key role in society and in the economy.

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