Freight electrification without wires test IN BRIEF
A pioneering installation with a retractable electrified overhead rail has been operated for the first time.
A RAIL freight terminal in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, has become the first in the UK to demonstrate an innovative overhead electrification system, which could spell the end of the need for ‘last mile’ diesel/battery power for locomotives running on electrified rail routes. The system could also help contribute to the rail freight industry’s net zero ambitions.
The Decarbonisation & Electrification of Freight Terminals (DEFT) project, funded by the Department for Transport and Innovate UK, has seen project partners Furrer+Frey GB, Tarmac and GB Railfreight take a concept from the drawing board and turn it into reality.
Freight trains are typically loaded and unloaded from above, preventing the use of 25kV OHLE typically used on electrified routes on sidings and in terminals. The need for a diesel shunter or a train locomotive with
‘last mile’ diesel or battery pack is
inefficient and can also cause knockon delays to passenger services if freight trains are delayed leaving/ entering the main line.
Engineers have therefore designed a moveable overhead conductor system where overhead equipment supplying electricity to locomotives can safely move away once a train has arrived and return when the train needs to move away. Furrer+Frey’s innovative system is
being trialled at Tarmac’s aggregate Wellingborough facility in partnership with GB Railfreight. The sidings are next to Midland Main Line which was recently electrified north to Corby and will now see further electrification to Leicester and Sheffield as part of the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan.
If successful, the moveable overhead system could go on to be deployed at other freight terminals across the UK.