About Us

The Centre for Railway Engineering (CRE) is an industry focused research centre and is hosted by the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering & Health (SEH), CQUniversity at the Rockhampton campus. It was instituted by the Council of the CQUniversity in 1994.

CRE provides an excellent research concentration of several engineering disciplines as applied to rail research. CRE has a strong customer focus and endeavours to build a strong partnership between its researchers and the rail industry through high quality generic and commercial research, continuing professional education and consultancy services. CRE has expertise in train and wagon dynamics, simulation, structural fatigue, failure analysis, erosion control, driver advisory systems, condition monitoring and train control and brake systems. Research projects are carried out by research academics, professional research staff, project engineers and Postgraduate students with support from technicians and software developers.

This provides an excellent environment for postgraduate level study and research.

The Centre also offers applied research, technology transfer, and continuing education opportunities to the wider community within and outside the Central Queensland region. The Centre aims at developing state-of-the-art technologies necessary for improving the economy, efficiency and safety of the railway operations and infrastructure through research, education and innovation.

CRE operates an impressive heavy testing laboratory facility with capabilities in dynamic, fatigue, static and proof testing of railway structures and rollingstock. Capabilities of the laboratory include full scale suspension testing of wagon suspensions, full scale two axis load testing, with strong floor and portal frame capacities allowing 2000kN vertical and 500kN horizontal loads to be accommodated.

In the year 2000, the CRE provided leadership in developing railway-engineering research as a national priority by bringing six universities and six major industry partners and succeeded in getting commonwealth funding for the Cooperative Research Centre for Railway Engineering and Technologies (known as Rail CRC) which operated from 2001 to 2007. Building on this success, a re-bid for a further seven years of operation allowed the beginning of operations of the CRC for Rail Innovation in July 2007.

CRE is a supplier of research and consulting to a number of railway organizations in Australia and to the new CRC for Rail Innovation.

Vision

CRE endeavours to engineer strong binding of the academia and rail industry through quality commercial-in-confidence and generic research, research-training, continuing professional education and consultancy services, which will provide benefit and growth to all sectors.

Mission

CRE will have a strong customer focus and to this end it will effectively equip itself to meet the objectives of the wider rail industry through a range of staff development programmes. In particular the areas of our current strength will be further enhanced and new and emerging areas related to all aspects of railway industry will be supported. The research and researcher capabilities will be made attractive to wider industries generically dealing within the transport and engineering sectors.

Focus

Our staff will provide high quality research, research training, information, and consultancy services to the wider railway industry. Our students will provide innovative outcomes in their industrially relevant research projects commensurate to the standards and ethics of our universityies and to the complete satisfaction of our industry clients. Our industry clients will derive the excellent return for their investments in association with the centre.