TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT SETS TOMORROW'S RESEARCH TARGETS

The upsurge in railway research during the 1960's was mainly concerned with hardware. Numeracy had to replace empiricism because severe competitive pressures forced the rail mode out of its comfortable rut of evolutionary development. Important gains have been made, particularly in the area of vehicle/track interaction but it is clear that guided transport is still a long way short of the limits of technical stretch as regards speed, capacity, and economic performance. The process of technology assessment in which possible operational and technical advances are matched to commercial opportunities, can provide a framework for the planning of long-term research.