Q&A with Julian Swan

PlasmaTrack Ltd CEO

Having previously successfully run The Imagination Factory as a commercial Engineering & Product design agency, Julian Swan has now turned his efforts to making a commercial success of PlasmaTrack Ltd as CEO. This includes heading up the engineering and commercial development of the technology since 2015 along with successfully winning and completing 3 Phases of Funded development for the Railway Safety & Standards Board.

How did you get started in the industry?

We won an Innovate UK project sponsored by the RSSB in 2015 for solutions around the theme of Predictable & Optimised Braking. Prior to this I had experience working in engineering and product design in various different industries including Medical Devices, Industrial Equipment and Life Saving Systems.

How did you start at PlasmaTrack?

PlasmaTrack was spun out of the Imagination Factory Ltd. The Imagination Factory is a Product Design Engineering agency which delivered 3 Phases of development under the RSSB funded Predictable and Optimised Braking programme. I am the owner and Engineering Director at the Imagination Factory and took on the Role of CEO in PlasmaTrack Ltd with its incorporation in March 2020. My key responsibility is to oversee the completion of the railway certification and product acceptance and the commercialisation of the technology.

Tell us about your career before you joined PlasmaTrack?

I am a Chartered Engineer with qualifications in Aeronautical Engineering and Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering Design, graduating from The Queens University in Belfast in 1992. From 1992 to 2000 I worked in manufacturing with RFD Ltd developing life-saving equipment and Munster Simms Engineering designing pumps, taps & water systems for marine & caravan applications.

From 2000 to 2014 I worked in product design agencies, I was Principle, Engineering Design at PDD Ltd and Engineering Director at IDC Ltd. Developing medical devices, consumer products & industrial equipment for numerous clients. In 2014 I founded the Imagination Factory Ltd as a Product Design Agency with a focus on developing its own intellectual property for commercial exploitation as well as supporting clients in developing their own products. The imagination Factory seeded PlasmaTrack Ltd in March 2020 from its work with RSSB.

What was the inspiration behind starting PlasmaTrack?

We had the opportunity to develop from concept to early railway prototype a technology for track cleaning using high energy plasma with RSSB funding. At the end of the 3 Phases of development we had a low speed (5mph) road to rail demonstrator which had been successfully trailed with Network Rail Wales. Network Rail Route Services announced a Prior Information Notice (PIN) calling for any new technologies for track cleaning to replace its water-jetting systems in 2019.

We had been collaborating closely with Network Rail during the RSSB development and this perfectly aligned with the opportunity to exploit the intellectual property in a separate commercial entity from the Imagination Factory. PlasmaTrack Ltd was incorporated in March 2020 and won a contract to demonstrate its High Speed PlasmaTrack Cleaning system as part of Network Rail’s Future Technology Trial for Autumn 2022.

What types of products and services do you offer?

We are currently going through Product Acceptance Testing with our first product. This system is suitable for PlasmaTrack cleaning between 20-60mph. It can be mounted on a Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) or Wagon as part of a Rail Head Treatment Train (RHTT). This will replace Network Rail’s current fleet of water jetting systems, which operate at 40mph and have limited operational coverage due to the amount of water required for the full network. In addition to this we have also developed a lower speed PlasmaTrack cleaning system which is mounted on a Road Rail Vehicle. This system is suitable for use in a possession and operates at 5mph.

In addition to PlasmaTrack cleaning systems we are developing a track sensing technology which can predict the railhead condition and indicate to the network when and if track cleaning or defensive driving should be implemented in real-time. Our future development programme is working on a miniaturised lower energy PlasmaTrack Low Adhesion Mitigation System (LAMS). The LAMS is intended to replace service train / freight train sanders. The energy required to move from low adhesion to dry track on the rail wheel contact patch is significantly lower than that needed for cleaning. The system can fit into the same envelope as the sander and as it uses energy from the train and nitrogen from the atmosphere, it has no consumables and will guarantee braking conditions for the vehicle. We believe this will be a keystone technology in the dawn of closer running on the railways.

How passionate are you about sustainability in the rail sector, and how do you go about sourcing the materials for your products?

Our core technology has been driven by a sustainable and environmental approach. PlasmaTrack technology has a twofold environmental benefit; we are reducing the carbon footprint with reduced fuel usage and through better water stewardship.