YRP East Midlands Visit Universal Signalling in Derby

Our East Midlands members visited Universal Signalling's office in Derby for an insightful technical talk exploring the company's innovative approach to developing signalling solutions designed to be faster to deploy, more cost-effective and easier to implement. The event brought together attendees from across the rail industry, including engineers, signalling professionals and operational staff, to learn more about Universal Signalling's vision for simplifying signalling deployment.

The presentation explored Universal Signalling's product portfolio, beginning with U-Locate before introducing U-Supervise, U-Cross and U-Work, with each solution designed to address different operational challenges. Looking to the future, the team also shared their ambition for U-Lock, a concept intended to provide an economically viable signalling solution for remote routes where deploying ETCS may not be practical. A live demonstration using a LEGO train set brought the concepts to life, making the technology easy to visualise and prompting plenty of discussion throughout the session.

The team also shared the story behind Universal Signalling. Founded in 2022, the company has grown from developing prototypes in a garage to successfully trialling its technology on the operational railway. The team reflected on the challenges of establishing an SME in the rail industry, pitching on international platforms, securing grant funding and ultimately achieving their first purchase order for a live trial.

Attendees were particularly interested to hear about the progress of U-Cross, which has successfully completed trials and is now progressing towards further trials on the Heart of Wales Line in collaboration with Network Rail Wales and Borders. The team also discussed their ongoing work to make beacon installation quicker and to continually refine the design to improve robustness.

The presentation concluded with an engaging Q&A session. The audience was clearly impressed by both the innovative ideas and the entrepreneurial journey behind the company, leading to lively discussions on the opportunities and challenges of introducing new technology into the railway industry.

YRP East Midlands would like to thank the Universal Signalling team for inviting us to their office, sharing their experiences so openly and delivering such an engaging technical session. We would also like to thank Katie Page for organising the visit behind the scenes. We wish Universal Signalling every success as they continue to develop their technology and look forward to following the progress of U-Cross as it advances towards further trials on the Heart of Wales Line. To learn more about Universal Signalling and its technology, watch Green Signal's interview with the team.