GWR Battery Train Trial

[Christopher125]

Following their COP26 demonstration runs, Vivarail have secured the contract to trial a battery train and fast charging system on the Greenford branch:

 

 https://news.gwr.com/news/gwr-fast-charging-trial-brings-regular-battery-only-rail-services-a-step-closer

 

Quote

Great Western Railway has signed a deal with manufacturer Vivarail to trial new battery-charging technology on its network, paving the way for battery-only trains to run in regular passenger service in the future.

 

The trial, supported by Network Rail, will take place on the Greenford branch line later this year and test Vivarail’s trackside fast-charging equipment in an operational setting for the first time.

It is hoped that the project will demonstrate that the equipment works safely and reliably in a ‘real-world’ environment.

The use of batteries for extended operation has typically been constrained by their range and meant widespread implementation has, until now, not been feasible.

Fast Charge equipment will be installed at West Ealing Station later this year and tested with Vivarail’s battery-only Class 230 train, first showcased at COP26 last year.

The train has a range of up to 62 miles on battery power, recharging in only 10 minutes using the Fast Charge system in off-network tests.

When the train arrives at a station it connects automatically to the Fast Charge and the batteries receive charge while the train is prepared for its next journey.

The train was launched at COP26 in November and ran daily services throughout the international climate change conference in Glasgow, including an iconic trip across the Forth Bridge.

Testing on the Greenford branch line supports the Government and wider rail industry’s ambition to move towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The trial is supported by £2.15m funding from the Department for Transport’s Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP).

Development of the Fast Charge technology also received funding from Innovate UK.

 

Rail Minister Wendy Morton said:

“We are world leaders in developing cutting edge green technology and this new zero-emission train supports our ambitious plan to move towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“Through our Plan for Rail and the Transport Decarbonisation Plan we are making the railways the backbone of a cleaner, more environmentally-friendly and modern public transport network.”

 

GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said:

“This is a really exciting development and underlines our commitment to reduce the carbon emissions of our train fleet with a view to removing all diesel-only traction from the network by 2040, in line with the Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan.

“We’re looking forward to working with our rail industry colleagues over the coming months to be able to rigorously test this battery train and charger on the Greenford branch line.”   

 

Vivarail Managing Director Steve McBride said:

 “Spearheading new green technology for rail is Vivarail’s forte, so I am delighted we are working with Great Western Railway on this demonstration of battery traction and automatic fast charging. The Greenford to West Ealing line will now lead the UK in bringing in new, emission-free battery electric trains combined with our world-leading charging system. 

“Battery technology has been identified as a key part of the network’s solution to reach Net Zero and it is the ability of our charging system that provides the key to replacing diesel trains. 

“I believe it will mark a step-change in showing the innovation within our industry. The support from GWR, Network Rail and the DfT to get this under way has been phenomenal.”

 

Network Rail’s Regional Managing Director for Wales and Western, Michelle Handforth, said:

“We are really excited for this new battery-powered trial to start and it highlights our commitment to providing a more environmentally-friendly way to travel.

“It builds on the success of electrification of the Great Western Mainline which has hugely reduced the number of journeys being made in diesel-only traction.

“We’re now looking forward to the challenge of getting the Greenford branch line ready for this new trial, which is another significant step forward for rail travel.”

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Christopher125

[russ p]

A lot of back slapping and high fives for repeating something BR did sixty years ago on the Ballater branch 

[Mike_Walker]

15 minutes ago, russ p said:

A lot of back slapping and high fives for repeating something BR did sixty years ago on the Ballater branch 

This is considerably more hi-tech than that BR trial.  It involves completely different battery technology and the real innovation is the fast charge system that works automatically as the train arrives at a station, in this case it will be at West Ealing.

 

There will be a back up system available on the train.

Not mine picture but one posted by a GWR driver on the WNXX forum.  It reminds of a sketch by the late, great Dave Allen trying to start the Marlow Donkey at Maidenhead with a giant key.

[John Wass]

On 16/02/2022 at 09:57, russ p said:

A lot of back slapping and high fives for repeating something BR did sixty years ago on the Ballater branch 

I can remember seeing them on the 16 August 1962 at Aberdeen whilst on holiday. They were Sc 79999 and Sc 79998

Edited February 17, 2022 by John Wass
extra copies

[russ p]

The end result isn't too dissimilar.  I'm just very cynical of the modern railway and how they try and reinvent everything.  Next thing will be a never tried before groundbreaking 7 foot railway maybe even vacuum powered! 

[The Stationmaster]

So unless they've changed the fast charging system they will have to lay 3rd & 4th rail at West Ealing in order to handle the current but there will at least be room there for the container size fast charger (which presumably needs a 3 phase supply?).  But at least the Greenford branch passengers will in future be having an UndergrounD type train throughout their journey into London so might be more forgiving of the inadequacies of Crossrail trains compared with the one they are changing from.

[Nearholmer]

I was involved with this briefly in 2018, a fascinating job that I had to let drop when my good lady was diagnosed with fast-progressing cancer, which was thankfully, caught just in time and successfully treated. At that stage, the fast charger did indeed need a 3-phase supply, but only a modest one. A good analogy would be to think of a modest pipe feeding a line side water tank, which fills quite slowly, but is then emptied rapidly into the train when the chain is pulled.

 

The whole idea is to make rapid charging possible in places where there isn’t a large-capacity power supply, which is most places.

To the best of my knowledge, the system is novel, and when combined with modern battery technology, which can “soak-up”charge very quickly, it puts the system in a very different league from traditional battery-only motive power technology.

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Nearholmer

[Christopher125]

6 hours ago, russ p said:

The end result isn't too dissimilar.  I'm just very cynical of the modern railway and how they try and reinvent everything.  Next thing will be a never tried before groundbreaking 7 foot railway maybe even vacuum powered! 

 

I really don't think that's fair - the Ballater unit was unique and short-lived for good reason!

 

No-one doubts you can power a train with batteries, but their cost, weight, performance and longevity didn't really make them a practical or cost effective alternative to diesel traction.

 

It's entirely legitimate to see if the latest battery and fast-charging technology has, in favourable circumstances, changed that and lives up to the promises.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Christopher125

[Nearholmer]

You only have to look at how the achievable power-density of traction batteries has increased since the 1950s: five or more fold.

 

Look at the volume and weight of cells in a 1950s milk float, and think about how much energy they can store, and compare that with the cells in a modern electric car. Add in power-electronics for both charging control and motor control, and software-based system control, and things really have moved on a huge stride.

[adb968008]

Arguably the Greenford branch may be better suited to regular tube stock and part of the underground network… shared use of the line as in other locations.

[adanapress]

I wonder  if anyone remembers the irish Drumm trains.

[Artless Bodger]

During my short lived dabble with German railways I came across the akkutriebwagen - battery railcar, not sure how many there were or where they were used, but among the models then available was a KPEV version, quite odd in that it had bonnets, a single axle under the inner end of each of the 2 car set and a bogie under the leading end. 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittfeld-Akkumulatortriebwagen

[31A]

23 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

During my short lived dabble with German railways I came across the akkutriebwagen - battery railcar, not sure how many there were or where they were used, but among the models then available was a KPEV version, quite odd in that it had bonnets, a single axle under the inner end of each of the 2 car set and a bogie under the leading end. 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittfeld-Akkumulatortriebwagen

 

This more modern type was more numerous and long lived; I rode on them a couple of times between Maastricht and Aachen:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_Class_ETA_150

 

[Zomboid]

According to Wikipedia (disclaimer applies), the first electric locomotive that didn't require electrification was built in 1837, and used Galvanic cells as an energy source.

 

The technology wasn't up to it then, but it's come a long way since then. It makes sense to see if there are suitable applications now the tech is developing quickly.

[Nearholmer]

There was no “electrification” in 1837, in that practical dynamos hadn’t been invented, so the only ways of obtaining electricity were chemically (primary cells), or as static electricity. Attempts were made to build battery locomotives of working size before 1837, and even before those attempts there were experimental table-top models of the principles.

 

The order of things went roughly:

 

- table-top demonstrations with the battery off the vehicle;

 

- practical(ish) vehicles with the battery on board. The motors were nothing like what we would recognise today at this stage;

 

- practical vehicles with supply from line side batteries, using motors that we would recognise;

 

- practical vehicle with supply from line side dynamo, Siemens & Halske 1879, which tends to be cited as “the first”.

 

The key invention that allowed “electrification” was the ‘practical self-exciting dynamo’, which was perfected c1870, and was quickly found to work as a motor too.

 

The batteries in the early stages were primary cells, so couldn’t be recharged electrically, they had to be refreshed by changing the electrolyte and the electrodes.I’ve got a c1880 text book containing oodles of calculations comparing the costs of burning coal as a fuel in locomotives with the cost of “burning” zinc in a battery locomotive. The zinc cost a lot more!

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Nearholmer

[Michael Hodgson]

14 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

 

 

Unusual design for a single line key

[Ron Ron Ron]

11 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Unusual design for a single line key

 
It’s just a wind up !

 

 

 

.

[Michael Hodgson]

36 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 
It’s just a wind up !

 

 

 

.

Yes, well I've heard of diesel electric and petrol electric, this must be what clockwork electric looks like.

[Artless Bodger]

One of the pre WW1 KPEV units still exists in Poland; https://www.bahnfotokiste.de/museen/polen/wittfeldakku/index.html

 

The interiors look pretty spartan, 3rd and 4th class if I understand the German correctly - KPEV used 4 classes, each painted different colours (1st blue, 2nd green, 3rd brown, 4th grey) makes for colourful trains and rather more tasteful than some of the marketing horrors we get these days.

[Trog]

Will a GWR electric train be powered by copper topped Duracell batteries?

[Mike_Walker]

24 minutes ago, Trog said:

Will a GWR electric train be powered by copper topped Duracell batteries?

Yes and complete with bunny!