Network Rail is trialling a prototype battery-powered train it claims could prove a cost-effective and sustainable zero emission replacement for diesel engines.

 

The train normally operates using electricity drawn from overhead power lines, but has now been retrofitted with six lithium iron magnesium battery rafts. Hailed as 'Britain's first battery-powered train', it is being put through its paces on a test track at Derby, before heading for a series of high-speed tests at the Rail Innovation and Development Centre (RIDC) in Nottinghamshire later this year.

 

Network Rail says electric trains are quicker, quieter, and more efficient than diesel alternatives. Along with its partners, including Bombardier, Abellio Greater Anglia, and the Department for Transport, it believes battery-powered trains could bring these environmental and financial benefits to otherwise non-electrified parts of the network or branch lines where it would not be cost effective to install overhead electrification equipment.

 

The trials follow Network Rail's successful testing of several types of battery technologies; including lithium iron magnesium and hot sodium nickel salt, last year.

 

James Ambrose, Network Rail's senior engineer leading on the Independently Powered Electric Multiple Unit (IPEMU) project, said: "Over the next five years, Network Rail has a target to reduce the cost of running Britain's railway by a further 20 per cent. At the same time, we are always looking for ways to make the railway greener too. This project has the potential to contribute significantly towards both those goals."