Welcome to the University of Huddersfield Institute of Railway Research (IRR)
Awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for "research and development that has brought significant improvements to the railway industry”, the Institute of Railway Research is a world class centre for railway engineering research and innovation. Our work has helped protect the railway’s most expensive assets, provide design assurance, reduce operating and maintenance costs, whilst increasing reliability and safety. We support an environmental and sustainability agenda with themes such as new materials and methods to increase asset life, encouraging modal shift from road to rail in developing mass transit solutions and improving the performance and competitiveness of rail freight. Our work seeks to combat the impact of climate change through more resilient assets and reduce the cost of electrification for a lower carbon railway.
Our Research

Research capabilities
The IRR is setup with three core teams handling a broad range of projects from long term fundamental research to short term industry problem-solving studies and applied industrial R&D.

Publications/articles
Discover the various outputs of the Institute here
Find out more about the IRR

Our Team
Our research staff are creative and innovative practitioners who have wide industrial and research experience.

Facilities and equipment
The Institute of Railway Research (IRR) has invested heavily in its facilities and equipment and has just opened a new £4.5M laboratory.

PhD Opportunities
View the PhD opportunities available with the IRR.

Contact Us
Contact the IRR

Events
Learn more about our upcoming events

Services to industry
The Institute of Railway Research provides a range of industrial R&D and consultancy services to the railway industry in the UK and worldwide

Centre for Innovation in Rail
Advancing technology and business process in the railway supply chain

UKRRIN Centre of Excellence in Rolling Rock
UKRRIN (the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network) is a new initiative designed to create a powerful collaboration between academia and industry.

Smart Rolling Stock Maintenance Research Facility
- Robotics & Automation
- Optimised scheduling
- RCM & Prognostics
- Digitally enabled workforce

Downloads
Download our Manchester wheel-rail contact benchmark files here