Vivarail’s little train has big ambitions for the future
The company’s in-house battery technology could be applied to other fleets for ‘off wires’ operations
VIVARAIL used the backdrop of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in early November to showcase the battery-powered version of its Class 230 ‘D-Train’.
It ran demonstration trains throughout the two-week event, including a trip across the Forth Bridge on October 30 – the first all-electric train to do so, and significant because electrifying the iconic structure would not be straightforward.
The two-car demonstrator
No. 230001 is a battery-only version of the ‘D-Train’ concept and based on re-engineered former London Underground ‘D78’ Stock. Diesel-only versions are in service with London Northwestern on the BedfordBletchley Line, while Transport for Wales is due to start using diesel-battery hybrid ‘230s’ on the Wrexham-Bidston Line from May 2022. Third-rail DC-powered versions recently entered service on the Isle of Wight as Class 484 EMUs.
The battery-only version marks a change of approach by Vivarail, as it says it will now concentrate on this technology and no longer offer the diesel-only version. In fact, the company has shifted focus from its beginnings in the mid-2010s and sees more potential selling the technology it has developed than supplying complete trains – although it is more than happy to do both.
Fast charging
Vivarail estimates batterypowered operation is almost half the cost of either conventional diesel or hydrogen fuel cells.
The key to it all is its Fast Charge technology, which means the batteries can be topped up during regular station dwell times along the route. For example, the demonstration run from
Glasgow Central to Barrhead and back took around 28 minutes and used 38% of the full charge. If this was a real service, the unit could be recharged during the turnaround at each end or, for longer journeys, battery banks could be installed at key locations en route, with charging taking place during a station stop.
The company says that only a few minutes are required to get meaningful charge into the batteries. This is achieved by stopping the train over two short lengths of conductor rail between the running rails, linked to a trackside charging bank, which connects to highcurrent shoegear under the train. The charging process is automatic, and the driver does not have to do anything except stop in the right place.
Topping up would occur en route where possible, followed by a full trickle charge overnight at the unit’s depot.
Based on current technology, the onboard batteries are said to have a seven-year lifespan in use on the trains, followed by another 10 years in the lineside battery banks, after which they can be recycled and repurposed.
Besides use in the Class 230s, for which there are a number of potential routes and branch lines around the country, the technology could be used to add a beyond-the-wires capability to standard EMUs, or even for other fleet owners to create their own fully-battery EMUs based on Vivarail’s system.
Company chairman Adrian Shooter said: “Network Rail is open to qualify our technology as standard, but only if it can also be used to charge other operators’ trains.” To qualify would require trains to run in service for a year to prove the technology, and one possible location for this is the West Ealing to Greenford branch in West London.
Network Rail’s group safety and engineering director Martin Frobisher added: “Fast Charging is an absolute breakthrough. What Vivarail has done is amazing, and it has proved this technology is ready.”