The Anonymous Widower

Will IPEMU Trains Transform The Greater North-East?

I think before I write this, I should define a few terms.

The Greater North East

By this area, I mean that area of England, that is North of the River Humber and is bordered in the West by those towns and cities that lie on or just to the West of the electrified East Coast Main Line. So they would be working Northwards up the line.

• Doncaster – On the ECML
• Sheffield – Including Meadowhall
• York – On the ECML
• Leeds – On the ECML
• Bradford – Electrified from Leeds
• Darlington – On the ECML
• Newcastle – On the ECML

It would also include those branches that reach to the West to places like Bishop Auckland, Carlisle, Halifax and Hexham.

IPEMU Trains

IPEMU stands for Independently Powered Electric Multiple Unit and is a normal train, that has on-board energy storage which is uses on lines that are not electrified to power the traction and other systems on the train.

To a passenger they would appear to be a normal four-car electric muliple unit. I described my ride in the prototype between Manningtree and Harwich in Is The Battery Electric Multiple Unit (BEMU) A Big Innovation In Train Design?

I was extremely sceptical until I rode the train and looked into the physics.

Bombardier are developing a new train called the Aventra, which will be wired so that it can be converted to an IPEMU, if operators need the capabilities.

An Aventra IPEMU have at least the following properties.

• At least a sixty mile range on the stored energy (Batteries or perhaps KERS?)
• Identical passenger experience to a standard train.
• The energy storage would be charged when the train was running on electrified lines.
• Regenerative braking would also be used to charge the energy storage.
• The energy storage could be used to move the trains around depots and sidings that were not electrified.

These trains sound almost too good to be true!

But as a Control Engineer by training, I have a feeling that the Ultimate Aventra IPEMU might be an impressive beast with a two hundred kilometre per hour top speed under wires, a range greater than sixty miles on energy storage and a very impressive electrical efficiency, which would make the train more affordable to operate.

I would also feel that the trains could use some form of mechanical energy storage like KERS in Formula One. Batteries are rather naff, but using something lifted from Formula One could be rather sexy and high-performance.

IPEMU Hubs

Suppose you were to build a series of IPEMU hubs, where the storage on IPEMU trains could be charged.

In several cases these hubs already exist, as they are stations with electrified platforms.

• Carlisle
• Darlington
• Doncaster
• Leeds
• Newcastle
• York

Some like Carlisle, Darlington and York would only need a couple of extra platforms to be electrified.

There would also possibly be other stations, where some form of charging would need to be provided, so that trains could be topped up with energy before returning to a main hub.

Stations in this category might include.

• Cleethorpes
• Hull
• Scarborough
• Sheffield
• Whitby

Sheffield will get fully electrified under the Midland Main Line electrification program anyway.

Services

The big route that could be run by IPEMUs would be North TransPennine, as IPEMUs would be capable of bridging the gap between Leeds and Manchester.

Also given the right structure of IPEMU hubs, virtually every passenger service in the Greater North East could be run using IPEMUs.

Conclusion

Who needs conventional electrification?

Freight services do!

So eventually the main freight routes will need to be electrified. This will mean that the primary use for the energy storage in the IPEMUs would be to make the trains more efficient.

October 25, 2015 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Electrification, IPEMU, Trains, TransPennine Express