TRL Limited,
trading as
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market.
An early form of trade, barter, s ...
TRL (formerly Transport Research Laboratory) is an independent
private company
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
offering a
transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
consultancy
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servic ...
and research service to the
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
and
private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government.
Employment
The ...
.
Originally established in 1933 by the
UK Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
as the Road Research Laboratory (RRL), it was
privatised
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
in 1996.
[ Its motto or tagline is 'The Future of Transport'.][
]
History
TRL was originally established in 1933 by the UK Government as the Road Research Laboratory (RRL) under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development.
* Department of Scientific and Industria ...
(DSIR), and later became the Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)[ in 1972.][
During the Second World War, the Laboratory contributed to the war effort.][ Among its contributions, under ]William Glanville
Sir William Henry Glanville CB CBE FRS (1 February 1900 – 30 June 1976) was a British civil engineer. During World War II he and the Road Research Laboratory were involved in important war work, developing temporary runways, beach analy ...
, were research that aided the development of plastic armour
Plastic armour (also known as plastic protection) was a type of vehicle armour originally developed for merchant ships by Edward Terrell of the British Admiralty in 1940. It consisted of small, evenly sized aggregate in a matrix of bitumen, simil ...
, the bouncing bomb
A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-deter ...
[ and the ]Disney bomb
The Disney bomb, also known as the Disney Swish, officially the 4500 lb Concrete Piercing/Rocket Assisted bomb was a rocket-assisted bunker buster bomb developed during the Second World War by the British Royal Navy to penetrate hardened con ...
.
During governmental reorganisation in the 1970s, the TRRL moved from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to the Department of the Environment
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...
(DoE).
At the TRRL, Frank Blackmore
Frank Blackmore Order of the British Empire, OBE Distinguished Flying Cross (UK), DFC (16 February 1916 – 5 June 2008) was a British airman and traffic engineering (transportation), traffic engineer. He led the development of the offside prio ...
developed the mini-roundabout and its associated 'priority rule',[ which was adopted in 1975.
With the encouragement of the UK Department of Transport, TRRL was instrumental in promoting cooperation with other European laboratories. In 1989, TRRL's initiative to create a ]Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories FEHRL, the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories was created in 1989 as an international organisation. In 2000, it became an ''association international sans but lucratif'' (AiSBL) or International association without lucrative pu ...
led to its hosting of the inaugural meeting.
It became an executive agency
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...
of the UK Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
(DfT) in 1992, and changed its name to the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).[
It was privatised in 1996,][ though earlier plans in 1994 for a proposed privatisation were criticised at the time, notably by former Transport Minister ]Barbara Castle
Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002), was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1979, making her one of the longest-serving female MPs in Bri ...
.
Operations
TRL is based in Crowthorne
Crowthorne is a large village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 6,711 at the 2001 census, which rose to 6,902 at the 2011 census. A 2020 estimate put it at 7,808. Cr ...
, Berkshire, with additional offices in Edinburgh and Birmingham.
TRL's key areas of work include road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
, network and vehicle safety
Automotive safety is the study and practice of design, construction, equipment and regulation to minimize the occurrence and consequences of traffic collisions involving motor vehicles. Road traffic safety more broadly includes roadway design. ...
; traffic management
Traffic management is a key branch within logistics. It concerns the planning control and purchasing of transport services needed to physically move vehicles (for example aircraft, road vehicles, rolling stock and watercraft) and freight.
Traffic ...
; planning and control; investigations and risk management; transport infrastructure
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...
; and environmental assessment, including work on climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
and air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
.[
]
Software
TRL has produced industry-standard software including Junctions, TRANSYT, SCOOT 7 an
UTC, Powered by SCOOT 7
Site redevelopment
The extensive Crowthorne site has been substantially scaled back, with many of the original buildings disused, creating an opportunity for redevelopment. In 2012, Bracknell Council identified the original site as a strategic area, suitable for a new mini-town of 1,000 homes.
Corporate affairs
To maintain its commercial independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
and impartiality, TRL is owned by the Transport Research Foundation (TRF), a non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
distributing foundation,[ overseen by 80 sector members from the transport industry. The TRF is classed as a non-profit distributing organisation (NPDO), a form of business structure where all profits are reinvested in services or business growth, rather than being distributed to ]shareholder
A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...
s.[ TRL's profits are invested in its own ]research program
A research program (British English: research programme) is a professional network of scientists conducting basic research. The term was used by philosopher of science Imre Lakatos to blend and revise the normative model of science offered by Karl ...
mes, selected by the TRF to enhance knowledge in critical areas such as safety
Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk.
Meanings
There are ...
, environmental impact
Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...
and sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
.[
]
See also
*Vehicle Certification Agency
The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom Department for Transport, and is the UK's type approval authority.
VCA has been supporting the automotive industry since the early 1970s, with offices in the UK ...
*Type approval
Type approval or certificate of conformity is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Generally, type approval is required before a product is allowed to be sold in a particular country, so ...
*United Kingdom driving test
The United Kingdom driving test is a test of competence that UK residents take in order to obtain a full Great Britain or Northern Ireland (car) driving licence or to add additional full entitlements to an existing one. Tests vary depending on t ...
*Zebra crossing
A zebra crossing (British English) or a marked crosswalk (American English) is a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes (zebra markings). Normally, pedestrians are afforded precedence over vehicular traffic, although the significance of ...
*MIRA Ltd.
HORIBA MIRA Ltd. (formerly the Motor Industry Research Association) is an automotive engineering and development consultancy company headquartered near Nuneaton in Warwickshire, United Kingdom. It provides product engineering, research, testing ...
*SHARP (helmet ratings)
SHARP (the Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme) is a British government quality ratings scheme for motorcycle helmets, established in 2007, with the objective of improving motorcycle safety on UK roads.
Helmets which are selected for ...
* Slough experiment
References
External links
https://TRL.co.uk
— TRL Limited official website
TRL Software
— official outlet of TRL Limited
Transport-Links.org
— contains many developing country RRL/TRRL/TRL documents, manuals, for free download
{{authority control
1933 establishments in the United Kingdom
Government agencies established in 1933
Transport research organizations
Transport in the United Kingdom
Engineering research institutes
Laboratories in the United Kingdom
Privatised executive agencies of the United Kingdom government
Research institutes in Berkshire
Wokingham
Companies based in Berkshire
Private companies limited by guarantee of the United Kingdom