This year’s Peter Parkin Memorial Lecture competition has attracted, once again, a high calibre of entrants. The final was held on the 17th June 2025 at the Derby Conference Centre. The 4 entrants were:
Joyce Lee – ARUP
ATRAPO (Arup TRAction POwer Model)
I am pleased to share our in-house tool for traction power modelling for Rolling Stock. It has been a privilege to be part of the team responsible for developing this script. My role in this development includes writing code to generate various graphs, applying the tool to different projects, and participating in model validation.
The in-house Python program developed by Arup, ATRAPO (short for Arup TRAction POwer Model), is utilized to calculate the energy consumption of a single electric and/or battery-electric train traveling along a section of track. This calculation is based on train performance characteristics and route information..
ATRAPO uses simple physics principles, applied across small distance increments, to obtain a result that closely aligns with analytical calculation. These include fundamental equations of linearly accelerated motion (“SUVAT”), Newton’s Second Law (Fnet = ma), and fundamental equations on work and power (E = Fs, P = Fv).
ATRAPO has been utilized in several prior projects, such as determining battery sizes for battery-electric multiple units through iterative simulations based on operational scenarios and degraded modes. It has also been used to size emergency batteries for EMUs according to train specifications and to determine battery sizes for future bi-mode locomotives based on client operational demands. Sample outputs will be shared in the presentation to illustrate its applications.
Finnbarr Mitchell-de Vesey – Vanguard Sustainable Transport Solutions
Engineering Realism: The Full Transport Simulator for Next-Generation Rail
I’ve always had a strong interest in simulation and modelling—particularly in building systems that behave like their real-world counterparts. That passion led me to develop the Full Transport Simulator (FTS) at Vanguard: a high-fidelity simulation tool designed to replicate modern rail vehicles from the component level upward. Unlike conventional vehicle-level models, the FTS simulates subsystems in detail—hydrogen fuel cells, batteries, motors—enabling engineers to capture the complex dynamics of hybrid traction with far greater accuracy.
Developed entirely in MATLAB Simulink and Simscape, the simulator integrates a component-accurate Toyota hydrogen fuel cell managed by a dynamic energy management system (EMS), alongside validated battery and motor models. Driver behaviour is emulated using Stateflow logic that reflects real driver behaviour operating scenarios. The FTS is modular and configurable. Once fully validated, a GUI will allow users to select components, route profiles, and driver driving styles—supporting everything from feasibility assessments to AI training loops.
What sets the FTS apart is not just its technical depth, but its purpose: to make engineering-grade realism available in day-to-day workflows. Whether validating a powertrain design or picking the best energy management strategy, the FTS offers insight without needing a test track. As rail evolves toward smarter, cleaner systems, I believe tools like the Full Transport Simulator will play a key role in helping engineers, researchers, and operators make better decisions—faster, and with greater confidence.
Samuel Hurst – University of Derby
HS2 What If?
HS2 has been surrounded by such controversy since before its construction around the politics, finance, presentation and environmental reasoning. HS2 should have been the solution to the over-crowding of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) in terms of passengers on the trains and trains on the routes. Instead, it hasn’t even been built yet and has already become more problematic. With the cost of construction being around 5 times, the original price and the complete construction being less than half of what was planned, the question “What could have been done instead?” is something that could become ever more asked in the coming years. Technology is ever advancing, and with the rapid progression of AI in recent years and its integration into almost every industry, there is definitely a place for it on the railways alongside other operations to improve efficiency across the network, not just the WCML. RailTrack and Virgins plan for the WCML could have reduced the time to Glasgow by almost an hour and British Rails hopes for the WCML could have reduced it even further. Different signalling methods could have allowed trains to run more frequently and efficiently. Longer trains, meaning greater capacity means great customer satisfaction overall. There were so many possibilities that can have been explored being known to cheaper, faster and more effective from years of practical application. But instead, are the government playing GDP roulette and just hoping for the best?
Federico Marino, Daniel Chigozie Alexander & Ben Palmas – University of Derby
Basalt Fibre reinforced Polyfurfuryl Alcohol (PFA) as a replacement for GFRP in Rail Vehicles
This project has been recently completed by Daniel Alexander and Ben Palmas (final year undergraduate students at the University of Derby) under the supervision of Federico Marino. It presents a comprehensive investigation into the mechanical performance of basalt fibrereinforced polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA) composites, developed as a sustainable alternative to conventional glass-fibre epoxy systems used in railway. Basalt fibres offer a compelling combination of high tensile strength, thermal stability, and environmental efficiency, while PFA, a bio-derived thermosetting resin, is known for its excellent fire resistance and reduced carbon footprint. Composite laminates were fabricated using prepreg hand lay-up and subjected to two curing regimes: conventional vacuum oven and pressure-assisted autoclave processing at 6 bar. The research critically examined the influence of curing method on laminate quality, microstructure, and mechanical behaviour, supported by microscopy and standardised mechanical testing. Experimental results revealed that mechanical properties are highly competitive with synthetic counterparts. The combination of high flexural strength and thermosetting PFA’s known chemical and flame resistance suggests suitability for low‑to‑midload structural applications in chemically aggressive or fire-sensitive environments. PFA is inherently fire‑retardant, thermally stable, and emits low smoke and toxicity compared to epoxy, making it an attractive candidate for interior panels in transport (e.g., trains) where toxicity from conventional epoxy-based composites is a concern. In addition, basalt fibre’s chemical stability, high tensile strength, and corrosion resistance make basalt/PFA composites promising for structural applications. Future work will explore long-term durability, cost-performance modelling, and optimal pressure parameters to unlock the full industrial potential of this lowimpact composite system.
