Technological advances mean future systems could break with convention
Building something new from scratch provides an opportunity to adopt innovative technologies. There is no sense of being bound by the way things have always been done.
This was a a key theme of the Railway Industry Association’s latest Unlocking Innovation event. The Covid pandemic caused the event to move online, taking the form of a series of webinars with the theme ‘Digital Journeys – Unlocking Innovation for Rail Passengers and Freight’. The event had been due to take place in Leeds, so one of the webinars included a particular focus on developments in West Yorkshire.
Leeds has been frustrated by the absence of a mass transit system. The long-planned Leeds Supertram system was the subject of much development but was eventually abandoned by the Government of the time.
Now the city region, home to over three million people, is considering again the need for a mass transit system. Tom Gifford, Head of Mass Transit for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, gave a presentation to the webinar explaining the latest work examining the form a future system may take. This included the outcome of a recent market testing exercise examining…
