Press release
Q-CTRL and Leading UK Rail Organizations Optimize Train Scheduling Efficiency with Quantum Software
June 18, 2025
Our clients
Q-CTRL holds the key to the multi-trillion-dollar quantum opportunity
McKinsey calls quantum a $2T market opportunity. Achieving this value is blocked by the divide between the quantum and classical worlds.
We build AI-powered infrastructure software to bridge this gap, delivering performance no one else can match. With this unique capability we’ve focused our business around the twin verticals of quantum computing and quantum sensing.
First and only in the world to deliver quantum advantage
Through our unique focus on AI-for-quantum we’ve achieved what no one else can, delivering the first true quantum advantage in GPS-free navigation and setting world records in quantum computer performance.
The team making quantum technology useful
Through advanced research that leads the field, and a dedicated focus on customer value through our products, we’re committed to delivering the full potential of quantum technology.
Memberships
the Opal suite
Products to help you achieve quantum advantage
Thoughtful product design to tackle the hardest problems in quantum technology.
Quantum computing
The most powerful AI-powered infrastructure software to make quantum computing useful to your organization.
Quantum navigation
The world’s first and only quantum navigation solution, proven to outperform GPS in the toughest environments.
Awards and recognitions
Explore awards
Workforce Development Solution of the Year 2025
Most Innovative Companies 2021
Cool Vendor in Quantum Computing 2023
Most Innovative Startup 2023
Quantum Software 2023
The most important customers trust Q-CTRL
Adopt the most advanced solutions for GPS-denied navigation
Build a quantum-ready team
Apply quantum computing to supply-chain and logistics challenges
Build a quantum-ready team
Apply quantum computing to my most challenging problems
Add automation to help scale your hardware
Integrate performance management to deliver maximum value to your customers
Design the next-generation of quantum hardware
Get the best performance from hardware to validate and improve your algorithms
Integrate the best interactivity into your quantum course
Empower your research team with advanced software for quantum control
Accelerate your hardware research
Advance the state-of-the-art in quantum algorithms
Real-world use cases
Accelerating the schedule for quantum-enhanced rail
Accelerate the usefulness of quantum computing for rail scheduling through custom solution development and performance optimization utilizing Fire Opal.
6X
increase in solvable problem size and accelerated timeline to practical quantum advantage by up to 3 years, now estimated for 2028.
Read the case study
We were pleasantly surprised to see the optimal routing of 26 trains over 18 minutes of real scheduling data for the full station topology being realised on a real quantum device, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible without using Q-CTRL’s optimisation solver.
Nadia Hoodbhoy
Principal Engineer
,
Network Rail
Delivering quantum advantage to airborne systems
Q-CTRL’s Ironstone Opal delivers GPS-free quantum navigation, achieving 94X better performance than INS in real-world flight and ground vehicle trials.
94X
improvement over the performance of a strategic-grade inertial navigation system in real flight tests
Read the case study
We achieved an accuracy in some trials comparable to a sharpshooter hitting a bullseye from 1,000 yards away. But because our quantum-assured navigation system allows a vehicle to position itself accurately irrespective of how far it’s travelled, by analogy that sharpshooter can hit the same bullseye no matter how far away they move from the target.
Michael J. Biercuk
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
,
Q-CTRL
Improving quantum education outcomes with Black Opal at the University of Hull, UK
Enhancing student engagement and real-world understanding in quantum computing through intuitive and interactive learning with Black Opal.
85%
of students reported that Black Opal improved their overall learning outcomes when used alongside their university syllabus, and would recommend its use in future courses.
Read the case study
Students who engaged with Black Opal as an active companion resource significantly boosted knowledge retention and ultimately understanding. Some of them even engaged further with quantum computing by choosing a final-year project in that field.
Dr David Benoit
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Physics and Astrochemistry
,
University of Hull, UK
Nord Quantique is accelerating the path to useful quantum error correction with Boulder Opal
Nord Quantique used Boulder Opal to design a hardware-efficient QEC protocol for a superconducting system where quantum information is encoded in GKP states.
14%
increase in logical qubit lifetime
Read the case study
Given the complexity of the physics at play, being able to perform closed-loop optimization of a few physically motivated parameters of the quantum error correction protocol with Boulder Opal is very valuable to us.
Dany Lachance-Quirion
VP of Quantum Hardware
,
Nord Quantique
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