Flirt Akku Battery Multiple-Unit Unveiled
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in Railway Gazette International.
This is the first paragraph.
Stadler has officially unveiled the prototype Flirt Akku, a version of its Flirt family of electric multiple-units which is equipped with a battery to permit operation on non-electrified or partly-electrified routes.
So it looks like another train with batteries, that joins the following, that have been announced in recent months.
- Angel Trains’ Class 165 Hydrive, that I wrote about in Class 165 Trains To Go Hybrid.
- Bombardier Talent 3, that I wrote about in Bombardier Introduces Talent 3 Battery-Operated Train.
- Class 230 train, that I wrote about in Battery Class 230 Train Demonstration At Bo’ness And Kinneil Railway.
- Porterbrook Class 350/2 Battery/FLEX, that I wrote about in Porterbrook Makes Case For Battery/Electric Bi-Mode Conversion.
There are also several projects using MTU Hybrid Power Packs.
What new projects will emerge in the next couple of years?
The Anonymous Widower 
It’s not been much publicised, but Stadler are also producing a battery hybrid for Merseyrail for testing on extending Ellesmere Port line to Helsby in 2020. If successful, the idea is to expand Merseyrail’s reach in other directions, though I’m not sure how that squares with the other franchises. Perhaps, as with London, Merseyrail would take over those routes. https://web.archive.org/web/20171107021632/http://moderngov.merseytravel.uk.net/documents/s21686/Enc.%201%20for%20Updated%20Long%20term%20Rail%20Strategy.pdf p37, and https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/traction-rolling-stock/single-view/view/battery-trial-planned-for-new-emu-fleet.html Stadler’s units, like Vivarail’s, are quite flexible on power configuration, which makes a lot of sense to me.
I’ve been thinking of compiling a list of which manufacturers/refurbishers are producing/working on which trains using new power technologies, both in Britain and the continent, but it’s hard to keep track of all the announcements. ORR has a useful list of rolling-stock companies http://orr.gov.uk/about-orr/who-we-work-with/industry-organisations/rolling-stock-companies but seems to be missing Stadler and CAF. I think Britain is unique in having so much rolling stock owned by leasing companies.
Comment by Peter Robins | October 26, 2018 |
I knew Merseyrail were looking at Preston, Wrexham and Skelmersdale, but I didn’t know about Helsby.
Germany uses train leasing companies and one of them is updating DMUs to hybrid.
I think that train leasing companies are a good thing, as they give pension funds a reltively safe investment with an up to forty year life.
So to prserve their investment, leasing companies like Porterbrook, Angel Trains and Eversholt are willing to spend money to reengineer the trains.
We’re going to see more re-engineering in the future.
Comment by AnonW | October 26, 2018 |
A diesel-battery hybrid: https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/traction-rolling-stock/single-view/view/fnm-orders-diesel-battery-multiple-units.html reports on an order for Stadler units in N Italy, with some specs.
Comment by Peter Robins | November 21, 2018 |
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