10098219Universal Interlocking: Next generation digital signalling as overlay on GCREClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKUniversal Signalling Ltd (USL) are an SME start-up developing the next generation of digital signalling, which we have named Universal Interlocking (UI). There are a multitude of benefits to our solution over incumbents, but important headlines are a projected cost less than 10% of UK ETCS deployments, and a deployment time measured in weeks, not decades. To achieve this, rather than concentrate on new technology, we have repurposed existing and proven railway technology to enable significant design and deployment process changes, which is where we believe the real savings lie. Simply put, unlike all other existing signalling systems, UI has the safety rules of the railway built into its basic logic, minimising the design, review, assurance and testing for each custom application - simplifying its implementation and eliminating huge re-signalling project costs. Additional benefits of UI include its tolerance of subsystem failures, its high-capacity, and its rapid reconfigurability, enabling flexibility to the ever-changing requirements of the modern passenger and freight railway. The architecture of UI has been under development by an award-winning group of UK Rail Engineers since 2018/2019\. USL was founded in 2022 to commercialise the IP. Whilst functional in a laboratory setting, this project represents the first UI deployment in a rail environment. We will demonstrate and evaluate both the infrastructure and train-borne elements of the system, proving that UI is capable of supervising train integrity, track occupation, vehicle speed, and more. In doing so we establish an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) demonstrator in short timeframe. We will evaluate the performance of the system in the GCRE environment, gaining results which will be used to validate our cost model and to underpin our safety and assurance activities. We will host several demonstration events for the wider industry to experience the system and provide feedback. After the project, our hardware will remain in place and later be extended through the whole site, allowing ongoing feature development under our own funding, according to end-user requirements. Our aspiration is that our system will support GCRE through construction and on-line testing activities by providing full ATO, worksite management and state-of-the-railway monitoring capabilities.