TRL Limited, trading as TRL (formerly Transport Research Laboratory) is an independent

private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

offering a

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

consultancy A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Con ...

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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

and

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy 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 private sector employs most of the workfo ...

. Originally established in 1933 by the

UK Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

as the Road Research Laboratory (RRL), it was

privatised Privatization (rendered 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 wh ...

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 (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, were research that aided the development of plastic armour, the bouncing bomb and the Disney bomb. During governmental reorganisation in the 1970s, the TRRL moved from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to the Department of the Environment (DoE). At the TRRL, Frank Blackmore 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 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 No ...

of the UK Department for Transport (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.

Operations

TRL is based in

Crowthorne Crowthorne is a village, and civil parish, in the Bracknell Forest district of southeastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 7,806 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Crowthorne is the location of Wellington College, Be ...

, Berkshire, with additional offices in Edinburgh and Birmingham. TRL's key areas of work include

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

, network and vehicle safety; traffic management; 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, pipelines ...

; and environmental assessment, including work on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

and

air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

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 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 status of ...

and

impartiality Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the mo ...

, TRL is owned by the Transport Research Foundation (TRF), a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

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 corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

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 K ...

mes, selected by the TRF to enhance knowledge in critical areas such as

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

, environmental impact and

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

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