Statement from the V/S SIC Chair
2024–25 saw continued development of the Rail Technical Strategy (RTS) themes ‘Easy to Use for All’ and ‘Freight Friendly’. In particular, the issue of boarding and alighting has seen renewed investigation from a human factors perspective. This is somewhat different to the numeric approach favoured by historic engineering-led analysis.
Freight has seen yet more focus on adapting gauges to accommodate recent trends in wagon design and load requirements. This will maximise the use of freight gauges on principal routes. V/S SIC continues to support RSSB in standards developments. It is pleasing to see the probabilistic techniques developed by V/S SIC nearing mainstream practice.
I am pleased to present the end-of-year report setting out the key achievements of 2024–25 by the SIC and its subgroup over the past 12 months, as well as its plans for 2025 and beyond.
David Johnson, Chair of V/S SIC and Technical Director at DGauge / TUV Rheinland
