Quantum Technology Potential for Railway Infrastructure (QT-PRI)

QT-PRI is a collaboration between RSK, Atkins, Network Rail and the University of Birmingham (UoB) to establish the Quantum Technology (QT) gravity sensor market opportunities against assessment of current geophysical technologies to detect and assess the condition of assets buried below the railway network, in particular drains, as well as water flow through the railway earthworks. There are over 190,000 railway earthworks and over 6000km buried assets. The incomplete asset inventory significantly limits the development of a framework to allow proactive condition assessment thereby maximising the limited resources and keeping the rail network operational. Currently, geophysical sensors are commercially used to detect the location of the ducts and pipes in roads and with limited success on the railways, but are rarely used to detect the asset condition or the condition of the parent asset (earthwork) itself. QT-PRI will open up a new market for QT gravity sensors by: 1) Assessing in detail the capability and limitations of QT gravity sensors benchmarked against current geophysical sensors for the railway environment; 2) Increasing the marketplace for the sensors by engagement with the client base, excellent dissemination activities, and practical field demonstrations.