Participants Forum – Nov 2019

Thanks to everyone who took the time to attend the Rail Manufacturing CRC’s final face-to-face Participants Forum held in Sydney on Thursday 21 November.

With approximately 50 people in attendance, the forum’s emphasis was on information sharing and networking. Following an introduction from CEO Stuart Thomson on what’s next for the Centre’s final six months ahead, project presentations were delivered to highlight the work being delivered in partnership with Australian rail organisations and university researchers.

Projects presented included:

  • Dwell Track responsive passenger tracking – by Owen Plagens of Downer and Stuart Warren of University of Technology Sydney
  • Axle bearing maintenance – by Jeff Lingard of Bombardier and Paul Meehan of University of Queensland
  • TrainDNA predictive maintenance – by Himanshu Jindal of Downer and Doug Creighton of Deakin University
  • Supercapactior and battery technologies – by Steven Wan of HEC Group and Bing Sun and Hao Liu of University of Technology Sydney

The audience also participated in a kinaesthetic-styled presentation delivered by Charlotte Rush of Inventium about Innovation Survivor – how to outthink, outsmart and outlast your competitors.

With little more than six months until the Rail Manufacturing CRC’s windup, the forum also promoted alternate funding mechanisms available for future rail R&D. Thanks to Matthew Young of the Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC), Paul Murray of the Australasian Centre for Rail Innovation (ACRI) and Martin Dent of the CRC Projects team for sharing about how to engage with their organisations about potential rail projects.

In wrapping up, Stuart Thomson hosted a panel on rail innovation moving forward, joined by Josh Pitcher of Knorr-Bremse Australia, Colin Cole of CQUniversity and Stuart Warren of University of Technology Sydney. The panel discussed emerging technology areas, potential future needs for rail passengers, key opportunities for Australian manufacturers and future skills workforce challenges and opportunities.

Heading into next year, one final Participants Forum will be held via teleconference in mid-2020.

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