Year 12 on track with Network Rail signals as part of the Engineering Education Scheme

A team of inventive Year 12 girls from our Sixth Form spent three days at Lancaster University at the beginning of last week working on a brief for Network Rail as part of a six-month engineering project for EES, the Engineering Education Scheme.

This year, the team, Zeba Azeem, Safa Petkar, Sophie Gill, and Katie Peckitt, are working with Network Rail on a new train signal, which must be located within a very narrow tunnel, too narrow to accommodate regular train signalling equipment. The brief is a real project currently being worked on by the company.

During the three-day residential, the team worked on building a model of a train tunnel incorporating their new proposed system of signalling within the tunnel. This involved the physical building of the model, and the building and coding of the electronics system which would control the signal.

They also began to build a new way of signalling, a wireless transmission to the train cab eliminating the need for a physical signal on the trackside. The girls worked with academics and technicians in the engineering labs, alongside teams from Wakefield Girls’, Greenhead College and Tapton School, to build a model and/or test their concept.

The team worked very well together and used their time wisely, meaning that they have completed the majority of the required practical work. They will go on to take part in a celebration and assessment day at Sheffield Hallam University on 21st March, where the team must give a ten minute presentation and produce a display stand for exhibition.