Siemens Mobility says its Goole-built new battery bi-mode trains could save Britain’s railways £3.5 billion and 12 million tonnes of CO2 over 35 years.
The trains would be powered by overhead wires on already electrified routes, then switch to battery power where there are no wires.
That means only small sections of the routes and/or particular stations have to be electrified with overhead line equipment, making it much quicker and less disruptive to replace diesel trains compared to full electrification.
Sambit Banerjee, Joint CEO for Siemens Mobility UK & Ireland said: “Britain should never have to buy a diesel passenger train again. Our battery trains, which we’d assemble in our new Goole factory, can replace Britain’s aging diesel trains without us having to electrify hundreds of miles more track in the next few years. So, on routes from Perth to Penzance, passengers could be travelling on clean, green battery-electric trains by the early 2030s. And the best thing is that this would save the country £3.5bn over 35 years.”
A number of train operators are looking to replace their aging diesel fleets, including Chiltern, Great Western Railway, Northern, ScotRail, TransPennine Express, and Transport for Wales, whilst East-West Rail will need to secure new trains.
Siemens Mobility says extensive modelling using advanced train performance simulation software to compare using battery bi-mode trains to running diesel or part-diesel powered trains shows that Siemens Mobility’s battery bi-mode trains would only require 20 – 30% of a line to be electrified. These trains, utilising Lithium Titanate Oxide battery chemistry, can charge their batteries to full capacity in 20 minutes whilst moving along the electrified sections or charging whilst stopped at stations.
Siemens Mobility’s first battery train fleet is already in passenger service in Germany. These highly advanced trains are running in the Ortenau region and will save 1.8 million litres of diesel per year when operating throughout the whole network.
