New centre to test trains, tracks and systems

Gaining authorisation for new trains is a lengthy and complex process. In recent years, intensive prototype testing has increasingly moved away from the main line network towards specialist test centres scattered across Europe, as Ben Jones discovers

In this article:

• The UK’s Global Centre for Rail Excellence (GCRE) will open in Wales by 2027.
• GCRE offers two 7km electrified test loops for high-speed and infrastructure testing on former colliery land.
• Expected to create 1,100 jobs, GCRE combines train and infrastructure testing for global rail innovation.

Within the next couple of years, the UK will join an exclusive club with its first purpose-built railway test centre.

The Global Centre for Rail Excellence (GCRE) is being developed on a former colliery site at Onllwyn, near Swansea. Expected to open in 2027, GCRE will give the UK rail industry a place to test not just rolling stock, but also safety and control systems, track and civil engineering, IT systems, and much more.

The Welsh facility will join established sites such as Velim in the Czech Republic and Siemens’ Wegberg-Wildenrath test centre in western Germany as the focus of testing on all kinds of new rail vehicles and equipment.

Global transport giants such as Siemens Mobility, Hitachi and Alstom use these centres to provide a controlled environment for intensive testing, validation and certification processes that are now rarely possible on busy main line networks.

Contemporary standards for safety, reliability and functionality are significantly more stringent and more detailed than in decades past. And the rolling stock itself is much more complex than it was even 20 years ago.

Overnight testing on quarantined lines takes longer and is much more complicated to arrange with infrastructure managers, increasing costs and timescales that already put train builders under enormous pressure.

Instead, imagine a place where you can run at speeds of up to 125mph, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without interfering with scheduled trains.

Centres such as GCRE sidestep the problem of gaining access to the main line railway. Undertaking this intensive work away from public spaces alleviates many safety concerns, and remote locations reduce the risk of noise pollution from 24-hour running.

Build in a range of curved and inclined tracks, switchbacks and crossings, and even multiple track gauges, plus facilities to test, maintain and validate everything from urban trams to metros to high-speed supertrains, and you have something that resembles a giant model railway, but with a serious purpose.

The best-known test centres in mainland Europe were deliberately built on wide expanses of flat land. For example, Wegberg-Wildenrath occupies part of the site of the former RAF Wildenrath, a Cold War fighter base.

In terms of scenery and layout, test centres are often relatively featureless greenfield sites with a scattering of simple buildings.

Train testing requires a few essentials for the teams of engineers and technicians involved: an office and amenity building, laboratory buildings, a maintenance ‘tin shed’ or two to inspect the trains between trips, access roads, concrete hard-standing/vehicle parking, and a control centre which can resemble an air traffic control tower.

Overhead line equipment (OLE) at centres such as Velim and Wildenrath can be energised at any of the four main European voltages (1.5kV and 3kV DC, 15kV and 25kV AC), allowing virtually any train to use them.

In the early 2000s, Siemens also installed Southern Region 750V DC third-rail at Wildenrath, allowing it to test new Class 450 ‘Desiro’ electric multiple units (EMUs) for South West Trains.

The test circuits are usually accompanied by a host of outdoor stabling sidings and service tracks. Track can take a variety of forms, from conventional sleepers and ballast to concrete slab track.

Increasingly, these dedicated test centres are playing a role in the development and authorisation of other equipment and processes, including digital safety systems such as European Train Control System (ETCS), Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRCMS), lineside equipment, and new civil engineering techniques.

Welcome to Wales

By necessity, GCRE will look very different to its counterparts in mainland Europe. Working with the topography of the former colliery site, its test tracks will uniquely include extensive earthworks, which will be used to test new engineering techniques and monitoring equipment such as drones and movement sensors.

Set up by the Welsh government in 2021, GCRE is redeveloping a 700-hectare site at the former Nant Helen opencast colliery and Onllwyn Washery, north of Swansea, which finally closed in 2021.

It is creating a purpose-built dynamic test facility available to the international rail industry, including two electrified test tracks: a 7km (4.3-mile) high-speed outer loop with a maximum speed of 177kphh (110mph) for rolling stock testing, and a 7km inner loop for lower-speed infrastructure testing.

A twin platform island station is also planned, plus infrastructure, signalling and rolling stock testing, and research and development facilities. Passive provision will be made for third-rail and fourth-rail operation to suit 750V DC main line and London Underground trains.

Hitachi Rail Europe, Network Rail and Transport for Wales have already committed to the project, which is expected to attract companies finding it difficult to guarantee slots at Velim and Wildenrath - these are often fully booked years in advance.

In theory, it could host non-UK rolling stock in the future, reversing the current trend of new British trains being shipped to mainland Europe to complete much of their approvals process. However, moving new trains by ship, road or rail across Europe is a complex and expensive process, as British operators have discovered.

Civil engineering works will include extensive earthworks and an upgrade of the Neath and Brecon freight line, connecting the centre to the main line network in Swansea.

Three five-car Class 360 EMUs formerly used for TfL Rail Heathrow Connect services have been acquired by GCRE and will be used for various purposes, including endurance testing of track infrastructure.

Unlike some other facilities, GCRE will place equal emphasis on testing of trains and infrastructure, rather than just running in new rolling stock. This could include endurance testing of components under heavy freight loads - something undertaken at the Pueblo test facility in Colorado, USA (see trackplan), but not currently possible in Europe.

The Welsh government has committed £50 million to the project, supported by a further £20m UK government funding and £7.4m through Innovate UK. But hundreds of millions more is required in private sector funding to make the scheme a reality.

GCRE estimates that the project will create 1,100 jobs and contribute £300m of additional value to the local economy. For every £1 spent, GCRE is expected to deliver £15 of wider benefits.

“We’re here to create employment and rebuild local prosperity, create a ‘net zero’ railway, make transport better and renewing, this amazing place, says GCRE Chief Executive Simon Jones.

“This area has been badly affected by deindustrialisation and really needs long-term, high-quality employment.”

Assuming that GCRE secures the funding it needs by the end of this year, construction work could start as soon as April 2025, moving millions of cubic metres of material to create the earthworks.

Tracklaying and construction of associated infrastructure on the formation is then expected to be complete in time to open in mid- to late-2027.

From Phantoms to ‘700s’

Siemens’ Wildenrath facility (official name Prüfcentre Wegberg-Wildenrath, or PCW) opened in 1997.

Using a 44-hectare section of the former RAF Wildenrath, which was home to British Canberra, Jaguar, Harrier and Phantom jets until its closure in 1992, it is now one of Europe’s busiest and most important train testing centres.

It features around 30km (18 miles) of standard and metre gauge track, and test circuits. T1 is an outer 6km track for high-speed running at up to 160kph (100mph). T2 is a 2.5km low-speed oval for trams and metros, with a curve radius of 300 metres. T3 is a 1.5km-long mixed gauge straight track designed to testing braking distances at up to 80kph (50mph).

Other facilities for dynamic and static testing include measurement of movement through superelevated and tight ‘S’ curves and on grades, a tipping rig to measure vehicle rolling characteristics, weighing equipment, turn-tilt tables, and areas for leakage tests and high-pressure sprinkler and acoustics tests.

Over the past two decades, PCW has hosted a glittering array of new trains for Europe and beyond, from Deutsche Bahn ICEs and Eurostar e320 high-speed units to heavy freight locomotives, trams and metro trains.

Siemens’ entry into the UK rolling stock market since the early 2000s has seen the facility play an important role in the commissioning of many new British trains - including the Class 350/360/444/450 ‘Desiro’ EMUs, ScotRail Class 385s, Thameslink Class 700s, and Great Northern Class 717s.

Although owned and operated by Siemens Mobility, the facility is available to other train builders. Visitors have included the Class 777 EMUs built for Merseyrail by Swiss manufacturer Stadler.

As part of the Class 444/450 testing programme, South West Trains ‘4-VEP’ 3810 was sent by road to Wildenrath in 2002, to provide a comparison with the new trains when working on 750V DC third-rail.

It returned to the UK in early 2003, but was briefly a very unusual stablemate for the sleek German ICEs on test at the same time.

Czech pioneer

Probably the best-known test centre in mainland Europe, VUZ Velim in the Czech Republic celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2023.

Built to support the huge Czechoslovakian rail industry, which was a major supplier to Soviet Bloc countries between the end of the Second World War and the early 1990s, its value was quickly recognised by train builders in western Europe after the fall of the ‘Iron Curtain’.

Featuring a 13.276km (eight-mile) main test ring with a maximum speed of 200kph (125mph) - 230kph for tilting trains - and a 4km (2.5-mile) small test ring, it offers an independent facility for the testing and commissioning of trains from all over Europe.

The first British visitors were two Eurotunnel Class 9/0 Bo-Bo-Bo shuttle locomotives (9003/04), which undertook 50,000km of endurance testing in August/September 1993.

Also related to the opening of the Channel Tunnel, 92001 Victor Hugo and 92002 H. G. Wells were extensively tested at Velim in 1994 before the class could enter service.

In recent years, the major increase in trains built in mainland Europe for British operators has resulted in a wide variety of types visiting the Czech Republic for validation and endurance testing.

Direct Rail Services Class 68s and ‘88s’ have both visited the facility, along with a Greater Anglia Class 745 ‘FLIRT’ EMU and Class 755 bi-mode unit, and a Class 195 diesel multiple unit (DMU) and Class 331 EMU built in Spain by CAF for Northern.

Also from CAF were a Class 397 EMU and Mk 5 ‘Nova 3’ locomotive-hauled coaches built for TransPennine Express (TPE). The latter were uniquely hauled by a Siemens Vectron electric locomotive for part of their tests.

A Stadler Class 555 EMU for Tyne & Wear Metro visited Velim in early 2023 for dynamic testing before delivery to the UK.

Recent visitors have included the latest generation of Alstom TGV for SNCF in France, Austrian Federal Railways’ Railjet 2 locomotive-powered push-pull stock, and the first of Trenitalia’s second batch of Hitachi-built ETR1000 high-speed EMUs.

Another important part of Velim’s current workload is the testing and validation of existing trains fitted with ETCS in-cab signalling equipment.

Other centres

While Velim is the oldest and best known of Europe’s test tracks, there are two other important facilities in eastern Europe - Făurei in Romania and Žmigród in Poland. Both countries retain significant train building capabilities for their domestic market and for export.

Făurei Railway Testing Centre, around 100 miles north-east of Bucharest, opened in 1978 and was extensively modernised between 2003 and 2008.

Owned and operated by the Romanian Railway Authority AFER, it can accommodate dynamic testing at up to 200kph (125mph) on its electrified 13.7km ‘Big Ring’. A 2.2km small ring features superelevated curves down to 180-metre radius and has a maximum speed of 60kph.

Unlike Velim and PCW, the Romanian facility can only supply 25kV AC overhead power to trains, limiting its capability to countries using that voltage.

Other facilities include a twisting test line with curves as tight as 135-metres radius, a ‘collision line’ with hump to permit crash testing of vehicles and braking behaviour, and a 600 square metre inspection hall equipped with pits, lifting jacks and cranes.

Făurei attracted British attention in summer 2018 when it hosted a Greater Anglia Class 755/4. Stadler sent the bi-mode FLIRT to Romania for dynamic testing prior to delivery to the UK - one of several units tested at sites around mainland Europe to accelerate the approvals process.

Poland’s thriving rail industry uses the Žmigród test centre, around 50km (30 miles) from Wrocław, to shake down new trains for domestic and export use.

Opened in 1996, the site is owned and operated by the country’s Railway Institute and features a 7.7km (4.8-mile) circuit with a maximum speed of 160kph (100mph).

As well as new trains built by the likes of Stadler Polska, PESA and Newag, Žmigród is used to test infrastructure, signalling and electrification systems.

Currently it operates on the Polish standard 3kV DC overhead supply, but 1.5kV DC, 15kV AC and 25kV AC capability could be added in the future, along with GSM-R communications and ETCS Level 2 digital signalling.

Another smaller facility, dating from the 1990s, is the Centre d’Essais Ferroviaire (CEF) at Petite-Forêt, near Valenciennes in northern France.

Located adjacent to the former Société Franco-Belge railway works, the 2.75km test track was originally conceived for testing new main line and metro trains for the French market.

As well as conventional trains, it has tracks for testing rubber-tyred vehicles, as used by the Paris Metro and VAL driverless vehicles used in several French cities.

Trains can run at up to 110kph (68mph), using five different overhead electrification systems plus 750V DC third-rail.

Petite-Forêt is also home to one of only two dedicated climatic test chambers in Europe (the other is at the UIC [International Union of Railways] test centre in Vienna), specialist laboratory and an acoustic chamber.

Alstom is the majority shareholder, but the facility is open to other manufacturers.

More recently, CEF has been joined by a separate facility (CEF2) near Bar-le-Duc, which focuses on testing main line vehicles for French operators. CEF2 is a 12km end-to-end track built alongside the Paris-Strasbourg main line with 25kV AC or 1.5kV DC overhead supply and 160kph maximum speed.

Together, the two sites offer around 20km (12.5 miles) of track dedicated to dynamic and static testing, maintenance and training.

Finally, Italian infrastructure manager RFI operates a 6km (3.7-mile) test loop at San Donato Yard in Bologna.

In 2018, the former external loop line of the marshalling yard was repurposed as a dedicated test track with a maximum speed of 120kph (75mph) and Italian standard 3kV DC electrification. The loop is used to test new trains before they gain authorisation to operate on the RFI network.

In a sign of things to come over the next few years, in summer 2024 the track was used to test a novel autonomous high-speed line inspection vehicle capable of 200kph (125mph).

End-to-end

Returning to less exotic climes, Network Rail currently operates two sites in the East Midlands, one of which enjoys a long and rich history dating back to British Rail’s Railway Technical Centre (RTC).

From the late 1960s until privatisation, the RTC operated dedicated test tracks at Old Dalby (near Melton Mowbray) and Mickleover (west of Derby).

While the smaller Mickleover track closed in 1990, the 13-mile Old Dalby line between Asfordby and Edwalton, on the southern outskirts of Nottingham, has enjoyed a new lease of life over the past 25 years.

Formerly part of the Midland Railway Melton-Nottingham line, which closed to revenue traffic in 1968, the Old Dalby line has been used for testing since 1966 - including much of the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) project and the infamous 100mph collision between a demonstration passenger train and a nuclear flask wagon in 1984.

After privatisation in the mid-1990s, the RTC was disbanded and its various departments sold off.

At various times, the Old Dalby line was leased to companies including Alstom and Serco, with the former investing £25m to electrify the Down line for Class 390 ‘Pendolino’ testing in the early 2000s. Bombardier and Metronet also made good use of the line to test London Underground ‘S-Stock’ sub-surface trains before delivery.

However, since 2013 the facility has been owned by Network Rail, which has transformed it into the Rail Innovation and Development Centre (RIDC), used for a wide variety of rolling stock and equipment tests.

Many of the latest generation of passenger trains have passed through RIDC over the past decade, including the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) Class 80Xs, Crossrail Class 345s, and various versions of the Bombardier/Alstom ‘Aventra’ EMU family. In September, Rail Operations Group’s Class 93 tri-mode locomotives (93001/002) underwent dynamic testing over the line.

RIDC’s current workload is dominated by Network Rail’s East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), which is undertaking ‘first in class’ ETCS testing on a variety of locomotives and rolling stock used on the southern end of the East Coast Main Line. In-cab signalling modifications are validated at RIDC on each type before they can be authorised for main line testing on the ECML.

Less well-known is NR’s High Marnham test track, which occupies part of the former Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway (LDECR) Chesterfield-Lincoln line in Nottinghamshire.

More recently used to give access to High Marnham Power Station and various collieries (all now closed), the line was taken over by NR in 2009. It has been used for infrastructure training and on-track plant testing, as well as noise tests and pre-service tests of infrastructure trains such as the High Output Ballast Cleaner.

As the enthusiasm around GCRE shows, there is strong demand for discrete facilities which can offer a full range of testing and validation services.

Train builders, supply chains, leasing companies and operators are keen to reduce development times - and costs - for new equipment. And as many railways struggle with climate change and congested networks, test centres such as Velim, Wildenrath and GCRE look set to become ever-more important to the health of the industry.