Q&A Session [Railway Young Professionals Best Paper Competition 2013]

This presentation is a question-and-answer panel session on the value of innovation for the railway industry. Given the critical nature of railway operations, it is not surprising that railways are naturally risk-averse in both the areas of safety and project time-scales. However, as we impose constraints on the system to protect against failure to gain acceptance, we also reduce the potential to improve the capability and performance of the railway. Cross-acceptance has been a desire of the European rail industry for many years, yet it still appears to be an 'impossible dream' to achieve cross-acceptance without going through a major re-engineering of existing safety arguments, even when trying to cross-accept between different safety authorities in the same country! How do we decide if novelty should win over tried and tested solutions? What values do we assign to the risks and the benefits? When, if ever, should we rip up the standards and start again? What can be done to reduce the risk of failing to gain safety acceptance, and how can we make cross-acceptance, or acceptance in general, function more efficiently?