Cutting edge digital monitoring and computer modelling is to be used in an innovative new project designed to cut Reading railway station's energy consumption and carbon emissions.
The 'digital twin' project will see a team mock up an identical computer version of the busy Berkshire train station. Using historical data they will run scenarios and hopefully find ways to be able cut the carbon footprint of the station by up to 20%.
A series of sensors are due to be installed across the station to capture the activity of the many millions of passengers that use the station every year (20m at last count, making it one of the busiest rail hubs in the country). The information collated by the sensors will be fed into the software and, in time, performance improvements can be mapped out.
Network Rail has teamed up with the well-regarded engineering and design consultancy Atkins, with Cardiff University working on developing the ‘digital twin’. They'll do so using their impressive Computational Urban Sustainability Platform (CUSP).
Nick Tune is the technical and technology director at Atkins. He said this about the innovative new shceme: “This is an important milestone as we look to harness data and technology to improve delivery at every stage of an asset’s life. Digital twins are the centrepiece of this shift which is giving us the information needed to not only identify opportunities to improve an asset’s energy performance but to interrogate future scenarios, explore further recommendations and tell us how those interventions will work with an unprecedented degree of certainty.”
Network Rail’s regional energy and carbon manager Adam De Benedictis is just as enthusiastic about the digital project. He added: “We’re delighted to be working with Atkins on this innovative project which will help us gain a better understanding of complex assets such as Reading station and their predicted performance, allowing us to confidently identify and deliver energy efficiency measures and ultimately manage our assets effectively.”
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