News and developments
We develop and build our technology from our workshop in Sheffield, UK. Innovation is the foundation of our business. We’ll be using this page to keep you updated on exciting new developments.
June 2026
Railway Challenge
2026
We’ve been lucky to have Will Bainbridge at Rivelin Rail as a ‘year in industry’ student since October. His work on making this tribometer the best version yet (by far) has been invaluable. When he’s not spinning shapes around in CAD or running miles of filament through our Bambu labs 3D printer, he’s been working with the Sheffield University Railway Challenge team. The powertrain he developed last year became part of this years entry at the recent competition down in Melton Mowbray. We’re super proud to say that the team scored second place in a heady battle with 9 other International crews. Massive congratulations from all of us at Rivelin Rail, and to all the other competitors. It sounded like a very fun weekend.
June 2026
Rail Live
2026
The annual “sea of orange jackets” Rail live show was not a disappointment.
We easily racked up our 10,000 steps visiting some current suppliers and future ones. Luckily the kind folks at LB Foster provided us with some breakfast ice-cream to set us up for the day. If you’re keen to see some very heavy machinery and some great new tech on offer then make sure you book in for the next one. Bring the comfy shoes!
May 2026
UK Rail
2026
Squeezing as much friction measurement tech as possible onto our UK Rail stand was a good reminder of how far we’ve developed our tribometers recently!
Great to visit with some of the Rivelin Rail team making this happen, William Bainbridge, Mostafa Hegazi and Baybutt behind the camera/eyeing up a new workshop driving simulator
Operational friction testing of low adhesion mitigation methods
RSSB Report
Results presented at the Network Rail National Autumn Review, Seasonal Challenge Communication Group, Freight Braking ARG and Adhesion Research Group.
This is the beginning of a more data-driven approach to friction management strategies. For further information or future work please get in touch.
Over £80 million pounds per year is spent on rail cleaning.
Despite this, very little information is known about performance. ‘Trial and error’ is used alongside ‘one size fits all’ cleaning strategies.
Ben conducted 11 days of friction measurements over 6 different locations, to determine the performance analysis of four different types of friction management products including water jetting, traction gels, and chemical cleaners.
Benefits to railway operation of friction measurements include:
Understanding of cleaning performance under different contamination, environmental and traffic conditions
Optimisation of cleaning strategy including location, speed or power and application intervals
Understanding of potential adhesion risks when using products and recommended mitigations
Friction ‘library; or database to compare against for future operational and investigative measurements
Read the results of that work here.
Leaf layer formation and measurements
Our tribometer has been included in Rail Safety and Standards board protocols for formation and measurement of low adhesion conditions using leaf layers.
We can offer this to test or optimise railhead treatments, as a consultancy service.
GPS
Our latest firmware update introduces GPS, for geolocated results which can be fed into data libraries and adhesion models
Gauge corner
Just around the corner!
We’ve been working on this for a while. In other tribometer technology the wheel is not always perpendicular to the rail surface which introduces creepage errors.
Our new system is designed for accurate, repeatable measurements in all rail positions.
Friction measurement trolley
Continuous, geolocated friction measurements?
It’s going to be a gamechanger!
