Railway Challenge: Tackling the Challenges of the Railroad Industry
Designing, experimenting with, testing, and improving a rail vehicle: this is the challenge taken on by engineering students at ESTACA, members of the Guided Ways association, as part of the Railway Challenge. This international competition allows them to put their knowledge into practice and tackle real-world challenges in the rail sector, closely aligned with industry expectations.
The Railway Challenge: At the Heart of Rail Innovation
The Railway Challenge is an annual engineering competition organized by the IMechE (Institution of Mechanical Engineers). It is an international competition in which teams must build a 1/5-scale locomotive and compete in challenges set by the organizer.
Beyond the competition itself, the Railway Challenge serves as a true experimental laboratory. Teams must devise solutions, make technical decisions, build their prototype, and then test and refine it based on the results obtained.
Hands-On Experience for Future Railway Engineers
For the students of Guided Ways—all of whom are in the railway track of the engineering program at ESTACA—participating in the Railway Challenge represents an opportunity to move beyond the theoretical aspects of their education and put their knowledge into practice.
The students of ESTACA’s railway association, Guided Ways, participated in this competition for the first time in 2025, in the “Entry Level” category: This category allowed them to compete by presenting all their theoretical studies (calculations, simulations, modeling, etc.) without having to submit a completed locomotive.
In particular, they were required to:
- analyze a set of specifications and identify technical constraints;
- design and size railway systems;
- work on propulsion and energy management;
- develop control and command solutions;
- conduct simulations and tests;
- analyze the vehicle’s performance;
- identify malfunctions and seek solutions;
- work as a team on a multidisciplinary project.
This project enabled them to develop essential engineering skills: teamwork, project management, communication, problem-solving, and the ability to seek out financial partners.
The project successfully secured support from eight companies:
- LUSINAGE for the manufacture of axle shafts,
- ANSYS for CFD software licenses for aerodynamic studies,
- AKIEM for funding travel to the competition,
- TheOhm – Creative Current for the graphic design of the locomotive’s livery,
- SYSTEAL by offering a discount on the purchase of parts,
- RTA,
- Colas Rail,
- CDA
A long-term collaborative project successfully completed for the 2026 edition
Involved in this project since 2023, the association has successfully completed the construction of a locomotive for 2026. After completing various stages of work on the vehicle’s aerodynamics and selecting a particulate filter, the team divided the manufacturing process into different groups:
- control electronics,
- aerodynamics,
- innovation,
- low-voltage systems,
- energy recovery system,
- technical work.
After passing the initial technical tests, the vehicle unfortunately crashed during a test run at the competition.
