The Anonymous Widower

From Hebden Bridge To Leeds

The weather was bad and on the last leg from Hebden Bridge to Leeds, I didn’t see much.

According to the Bradford-Halifax section in the Wikipedia entry for the Calder Valley Line, there are five tunnels of which two are over a thousand yards.

So as on the rest of the line electrification could be challenging.

On the other hand some sections, like Sowerby Bridge-Halifax might be easier to electrify.

But I can’t help feeling, that whatever Network Rail decide to do about this line, that IPEMU technology will be part of the solution.

Say you have a section of a couple of miles, that because of various issues would be virtually impossible or very expensive to electrify.

Could a train approaching the neutral section drop its pantograph, use battery power in the neutral section and then automatically put the pantograph up to reconnect to the electricity supply, once the neutral section was passed?

As a Control Engineer, I know such automation is possible, but can it be implemented on a train at 100 mph?

I suspect that the answer is yes and by the end of 2017, there’ll be videos of an IPEMU, swapping from overhead to battery power and back at high speed.

January 3, 2016 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Calder Valley Line, Electrification, IPEMU