The Anonymous Widower

Is It Bi-Modes And Battery Trains To The Rescue?

This article in Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Further delays to GWML electrification as schemes deferred indefinitely.

The delayed schemes include.

1. Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads
2. Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads
3. Oxford to Didcot Parkway
4. Henley Branch
5. Windsor Branch

There is no mention of the Marlow Branch or the Greenford Branch.

The article also quotes the Rail Minister; Paul Maynard, as saying.

Introducing newer trains with more capacity in these areas could be done without costly and disruptive electrification,

Is this a meaningless platitude or is there substance behind it?

A mix of Class 801 electric trains and Class 800 bi-mode electro-diesel trains were originally ordered for GWR.

But this is said in the Wikipedia entry for the Class 800 train.

In July 2016, it was announced that GWR’s intended fleet of Class 801s were to be converted from pure EMUs to bi-mode units. Subsequently these were reclassified as Class 800s.

So will we see bi-mode trains working the Bristol Temple Meads routes, which are numbered 1 and 2 above?

That would certainly allow the Minister to bathe in the glory of a run to Bristol via Bath and back via Bristol Parkway.

Five-car Class 800 trains could also work route 3, thus giving Oxford trains, that would increase capacity and run on electric power between Didcot and Paddington.

But what about the four branch lines; Greenford, Henley, Marlow and Windsor?

Note.

•  The Minister used the word newer not new.
• He also said capacity would be greater.
• When I passed the Marlow branch a few weeks ago, it appeared electrification had started.
• All branches are short, with the Marlow Branch the longest at 7.25 miles.
• The Henley Branch has a 50 mph speed limit.

It should also be noted that the Mayflower Line, where the battery train trial was conducted in 2015 is just over eleven miles long.

So would it be possible to fit batteries to the Class 387 trains to fulfil the Minister’s statement?

• The Class 387 trains are very similar to the Class 379 trains used in the trial on the Mayflower Line.
• They are newer with greater capacity, than the current trains on the branch lines.

The answer could be yes! I reported on Rumours Of Battery-Powered Trains in August 2015. At that time Network Rail were calling the trains Independently Powered Electric Multiple Units or IPEMUs.

The possibility also exists that Class 387 trains with batteries could also work the lines between Didcot Parkway and Oxford, Reading and Basingstoke and Reading and Bedwyn.

Network Rail needs to convert a serious loss of face into at least a score-draw!

If the Great Western does use this approach, they’ll only be taking a similar route to the Germans, as I wrote about in German Trains With Batteries.

November 10, 2016 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Class 387 Train, Class 800 Train, Electrification, Great Western Railway, IPEMU, Trains