New system delivers significant fuel savings for Arriva Trains Wales
Anew energy-saving system on Arriva Trains Wales trains is helping to reduce fuel consumption while supposedly providing a ‘smoother ride’ for rail passengers.
The Driver Advisory System (DAS) has saved 300,000 litres of fuel in the past six months – enough to fly a commercial plane around the world one and a half times.
Gareth Morgan, driver manager at Arriva Trains Wales, commented: “Rail plays a central role in sustainable transport and at Arriva Trains Wales we are committed to reducing the impact of our operation on the environment.
“The Driver Advisory System has already dramatically reduced the fuel consumption and carbon footprint of our trains.
“The energy saving systems encourage efficient driving practices by advising drivers when lower speeds or long periods of coasting can be implemented.”
Gareth added: “The system also offers added technical benefits to our drivers and improves passenger journeys.
“It provides drivers with their current location, estimated times of arrival and station timing information, which leads to less aggressive braking into stations; less stopping at red signals and therefore a smoother ride for our passengers.”
First introduced in July 2015, more than 115 trains along Arriva Trains Wales’ network have now been fitted with the system.
Other recent eco-initiatives used by Arriva Trains Wales include rainwater harvesting, smart metering and wind power generation.
The Rainwater Harvesting systems installed at Arriva’s Cardiff and Machynlleth depots have cut water consumption from the mains water supply by between 30,000 and 40,000 thousand cubic litres.
Arriva Trains Wales also installed a recycling system at the vehicle wash plant in Cardiff to save water when washing the trains, reducing water usage by 70% since 2010.
Smart metering technology is used across all 247 stations managed by Arriva Trains Wales to monitor ongoing electricity and gas usage, and identify opportunities for energy savings such as lower energy lighting and air-source heat pumps.
In addition to reducing its energy consumption, Arriva Trains Wales has also started generating its own electricity through a new wind turbine installed at the Machynlleth maintenance depot.
Since 2010, this wind turbine has generated over 15,000 kWh and now provides almost 5% of the depot’s total electricity demand.
These measures all form part of the Arriva Trains Wales commitment to identify and manage ongoing improvements in the carbon footprint, through managed reductions in fuel and electricity, to deliver a total reduction of 5% by 2018.