Hopwood discounts hydrogen f
NEW traction technology is being explored by Great Western Railway, but hydrogen is not an option, says Managing Director Mark Hopwood.
Trials with hydrogen trains have been announced by the RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board) and Alstom, with reports that GWR would be a candidate.
However, Hopwood told RAIL: “We are not doing hydrogen. We are looking at technology and potential plans. My personal point of view is there’s some exciting opportunities but a lot of work to do first. It’s not at the stage for production, but it will be a matter of time.”
On modern fleets and the need for innovation, he acknowledged: “There is an increasing desire not to pump diesel into the air.” Hopwood said he’d recently bought a car with an Eco boost, and suggested similar technology for the railway: “Even with diesel emissions and noise you can hardly hear it, but it can use that boost of power.”
He noted that technology moves incredibly quickly, and the railway needs to keep up: “Look at the Intercity Express Trains. Get on a ‘180’ or ‘220’ and there are powered engines below the floor. IET is the same, yet it’s quiet. Even in the short term, that technology has changed!”
Hopwood told RAIL that GWR was not ruling out four-car bi-mode Class 769 FLEX trains
“In the next franchise, ‘150s’ will be getting old and won’t go on forever.” Mark Hopwood, Managing Director, GWR
converted from Class 319s, saying they offer the chance to boost capacity. “We found in the last ten years there is a shortage of DMUs, and that they fill up quickly.”
Elsewhere in the fleet, Hopwood confirmed that GWR is working on a strategy to replace Class 150s that are due to leave in 2019-20. Currently GWR is due to dispense with all its remaining ‘150/1s’, but Hopwood said the intention was to “keep the 17 Porterbrook-owned Class 150/2s”.
This means that 150216 will return to Angel Trains, while the rest of the current GWR ‘150/2’ fleet remains. However, he warned: “In the next franchise, ‘150s’ will be getting old and won’t go on forever.”
He added that single-car Class 153s will remain with the operator in the short term - five until the summer, and some until 2019.
“The problem with them is accessibility, as they need to have accessible toilets. Now, you could have one toilet per train and could recouple them as Class 155s, or they could be used to form threecar trains,” he said.
Decisions will need to be made, with GWR needing to evaluate its traction requirements after Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling asked the operator to evaluate running trains to Okehampton.
GWR has eight Class 143 Pacers that were due to be withdrawn this year, but which have been retained. Hopwood explained: “We cannot run ‘143s’ after December 2019 [due to accessibility regulations]. There has been slippage in the cascade plans, and so we spent some money on ‘143s’ for a C6 overhaul and painted them. I won’t get rid of them for the sake of it - we don’t get resilience if we do that.”