Government minister Huw Merriman launches this year's First of a Kind (FOAK) competition to improve Britain's railways

Cutting edge companies again have the chance to receive government funding in the First of a Kind (FOAK) competition, now in its seventh year, in a bid to improve Britain’s railways.

The winning projects will be awarded a share of £5.3 million of Department for Transport funding and, for the first time, this year’s competition is partnering with HS2 Ltd, which will also offer £1 million of funding for innovations to speed up or cut costs of high speed rail.

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The competition follows six rounds in previous years and a total of almost £50 million in funding, which has seen a range of innovative projects hit the market and improve the day-to-day running of railways.

Last year, Westbury on Trym-based G-Volution was among the winners, with its project to use fuel cells to make auxiliary power in freight trains cleaner. The project entitled 'Decarbonising Auxiliary Load in Freight Today' was given a grant of £378,514.

Rail Minister Huw Merriman, who launched the latest iteration of the competition on June 14, said: "This is an incredible opportunity not just for businesses but for the entire rail industry.

"Every year, this competition brings together the best and the brightest whose talent and ingenuity help to solve problems we’re facing and drive our railways forward."

Following previous competition, innovative tech like Seat Frog’s Train Swap product is now used across eight operators, It allows passengers to swap train tickets without having to purchase a new one.

In addition, Hack Partners’ Hubble technology uses train-mounted cameras to identify and address lineside maintenance issues, while Transreport’s technology enables passengers with disabilities to request assistance quickly.

There are also a number of winning projects in the pipeline set to become commercial in coming years, including the University of Birmingham’s project developing hydrogen-powered trains, which will be crucial to decarbonising the railways and achieving the UK’s net zero plans.

Two of the winners from 2022 are also set to receive further funding of £1.5 million between them as they represented the most promising projects as part of the ‘low emissions and a greener railway’ theme.

One involved charging train batteries and the other used kinetic energy to cut emissions from diesel trains.