The Railway Technology Strategy Centre (RTSC) at Imperial College was established in 1992 by funding from British Rail as a centre of excellence serving the railway industry on strategic, technology and economic issues, in the U.K. and worldwide. The early years of the RTSC were dominated by projects in the U.K., principally for British Rail, but also for its successors in the form of Railtrack, a rolling stock leasing company and others, as well as for London Underground Ltd. The last two or three years have seen the RTSC broaden its international client base and consolidate its position as major advisors to its U.K. clients. The RTSC continues to serve as a benchmarking centre for a consortium of the world's largest urban railways. Originally called the Group of Five, comprising Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Paris and New York, the group was expanded to eight with the addition of Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Mexico in 1996, and is now known as CoMET — the Community of Metros. The benchmarking study is dedicated to assisting metro railways in identifying and implementing best practice through the application of benchmarking comparisons and detailed case-study evaluations. Implementation has been achieved in several areas with several more in prospect. The core programme is about to enter its fourth year, and has further generated a number of specific case-studies — the most significant being the one relating to investment, maintenance and staffing.
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