Sustainability
DANIEL PUDDICOMBE profiles the winner of the Sustainable Business Award at RAIL’s 2020 National Rail Awards
How South Western Railway, Porterbrook and Eminox teamed up to win the National Rail Awards Sustainable Business accolade.
“We’d like to know why it is so that certain diesels must be slow and thwack and thrum and pong and hum and clatter clat
Hate something
Change something
Hate something change something Make something better”
The above song lyrics are from a 2004 Honda commercial where the car manufacturer was advertising its diesel engines, which were said to be much cleaner and better for the environment than the previous generation.
South Western Railway and its partners, rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook and emissions reductions company Eminox, have been doing their bit to reduce the environmental impact of diesel pollution - by retrofitting exhaust after-treatment systems to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions on Class 159 DMUs that run between London and Salisbury.
And their efforts to help passengers to breathe more easily by cleaning up diesel trains were recognised with success in the Sustainable Business Award category at
2020 National Rail Awards.
The technology is closely related to units that have appeared in bus and truck fleets. During the trial period, partly funded through the Government’s Innovate UK scheme and which came to an end in April 2020, the companies estimated that the units fitted with the technology reduced NOx emissions by around 80% compared with those that weren’t fitted with the technology, bringing the 30-year-old units up to modern-day emissions standards.
“We’re keen to reduce our emissions - we run into some of the largest cities in the UK and with some of the oldest fleets as well,” says SWR Engineering Director Neil Drury, as he explains several benefits that the reduction in pollution brings for the company and its employees.
“The NOx and particulate reductions provide clean air in the cities and communities we serve. But having engines that don’t fire up with quite so much particulate matter inside the shed means you get less air pollution within the shed and in the sidings as well.”
Staff have appreciated the investment, with Drury claiming that morale has increased as a result of the fitment of the technology.
“One of the key questions I’ve been asked is: ‘What’s happening to the diesel fleet? We’ve heard all sorts of rumours about it. Are they coming to the end of their lives?’
“So, the ability to demonstrate that we are willing to invest in the fleet and innovate has breathed quite a lot of life back into the depot, with more gusto from the team to deal with the problems we face on a daily basis operating the fleet. There are practical and emotional benefits.”
Prior to the fitment of the technology, the engines in the Class 159s did not meet European emissions standards (for non-road mobile machinery, under which rail falls, the current standard is 3B).
But according to Carlos Vicente, Retrofit and Aftermarket Sales Director for Eminox, their emissions levels have been vastly improved: “These are pre-Euro vehicles, and these are Euro 6 [road] equivalent in terms of NOx and particulate matter reductions.
“New options aren’t available, but we know the regulations and we are bringing them up to what the current standards would be, and which are equivalent to what you would expect from a modern diesel engine.”
Rupert Brennan-Brown, Director of Stakeholder Engagement at Porterbrook, adds: “The ability to try and minimise your environmental footprint, as an owner and as an operator, is really important. Clearly, the ‘158’ and ‘159’ fleets are significant workhorses for the railway, and it is unlikely that diesel trains will be replaced in a like for like basis because of asset life, so this is really us asking ‘what can we do to address those environmental air quality and decarbonisation concerns now?’”
Not only does the technology significantly reduce emissions, it is also a cost-effective solution compared with procuring new trains. The companies say that replacing the ‘159s’ with a new-build DMU would cost
£ 4.5 million per three-car unit, whereas the existing fleet can be upgraded at a cost of £150,000 per three-car DMU. A no-brainer, surely?
“We would be delighted to roll this out
[to the rest of the diesel fleet]. From a purely financial point of view, it doesn’t have an absolutely positive case, but if you look at the wider societal benefits it does. We’re engaging with the Department for Transport to see how we can fit it to the fleet,” says Drury.
Brennan-Brown adds that the trial enabled the companies to “come up with some startling figures to show how we can improve air quality and reduce emissions, meaning we’re in position say: ‘this is what you could achieve’.”
Looking beyond SWR’s fleet of Class 158s and ‘159s’, the technology could be rolled out to older DMU fleets, provided a commercial case can be found. “DMU engines are very similar to truck engines, so that enables us to apply the technology to various configurations as and when it is viable, says Vicente.
“Our objective is to cover as much of the UK fleet as possible. We’d be very disappointed if we have to look beyond our own shores to commercialise this, as we see significant opportunities with the right support.”
Not only does the result of the trial
demonstrate to the DfT what can be achieved, it also highlights to passengers that the train operator is doing its bit to be as environmentally friendly as possible.
“Rail has a good basis for promoting clean travel options, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We need to keep on moving forwards because other modes are upping their games as well,” says Brennan-Brown
SWR Energy Manager Costas Panagiotakopoulos adds: “In the railway industry, we often forget to mention to our passengers that we are the most sustainable mode of transport. This also helps us to work with SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], so we are also supporting the social impact of the railway because we are not only there to transport people and connect communities.”
With its ability to not only reduce emissions (ensuring that certain diesels no longer “pong and hum” out quite as many particulates), but also to save operators money, the technology (and the partnership between operator, leasing company and technology provider) is a worthy winner of the NRA Sustainable Business Award.