TransiT research hub welcomes visitor from Department of Transport
Published: 11 October 2024
The University of Glasgow has played host to a visitor from the UK Government to discuss the progress of a £46m research hub which is pushing forward the country’s efforts to decarbonise transport through digital twin technology.
The University of Glasgow has played host to a visitor from the UK Government to discuss the progress of a £46m research hub which is pushing forward the country’s efforts to decarbonise transport through digital twin technology.
Jo Shanmugalingam, the Second Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, visited the University’s Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre on Wednesday 9 October to learn more about TransiT - the Twinning for Decarbonising Transport research hub.
TransiT is led by researchers from the University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University, in partnership with colleagues at six UK universities.
Together with dozens of industry partners, the hub is working to develop digital twins of the UK’s transport infrastructure to help find the most rapid and effective paths to decarbonise the transport industry. The UK’s transport sector, including road, rail, air and maritime, is responsible for about a third of the country’s carbon emissions.
After a six-month consultation phase, the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announced in August that TransiT would be backed by £20m in new funding to support five years of research and the development of new digital twin technologies. A further £26m was pledged by nearly 70 partners from across the digital, energy and transport sectors.
During her visit, Ms Shanmugalingam had the opportunity to hear from some of TransiT’s leading researchers on how the hub’s work has been progressing and plans for the future.
DfT Second Permanent Secretary Jo Shanmugalingam said: “It is fantastic to see the TransiT research hub become a reality thanks to collaboration between government, industry, and academia.
“This is an important step toward realising the potential of digital twins in decarbonising transport and the Department looks forward to continuing working closely with TransiT.”
Professor David Flynn, of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, is one of TransiT’s two co-directors. He said: “We were pleased to welcome the Second Permanent Secretary to the University to learn more about TransiT and discuss the key role the hub is playing in helping the UK work towards decarbonisation.
“Digital twins, which use real-world data to create detailed models of how complex systems work and interact with each other, will be key to helping us determine the best ways to reduce the carbon footprint of transport.
“Here at the ARC, we have a digital twin of the building’s energy systems which helps the University on the road towards its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. As TransiT picks up pace, and we begin working with data provided by our partners, we’re beginning to see how we can scale up that approach across the whole country. It’s an exciting prospect, and we’re glad to be working closely with the Department of Transport to make it happen.”
Professor Phil Greening, from Heriot-Watt University, is TransiT’s joint co-director. He said: “With global temperatures rapidly rising, we have run out of time to carry out real-world transport trials and learn from them – so we have to do our experiments digitally. By modelling our future transport system with digital twins, TransiT will remove uncertainty about what works and what doesn’t – and help to identify the lowest cost, least risky and most energy-efficient way to decarbonise transport.”
TransiT’s academic partners are the University of Birmingham, the University of Cambridge, Cranfield University, Durham University, the University of Leeds and University College London.
First published: 11 October 2024