The Anonymous Widower

Battery Power Lined Up For ‘755s’

In Issue 888 of Rail Magazine, there is a short article, which is entitled Battery Power Lined Up For ‘755s.‘

This is said.

Class 755s could be fitted with battery power when they undergo their first overhaul.

Stadler built the trains with diesel and electric power.

The Swiss manufacturer believes batteries to be the alternative power source for rail of the future, and is to build tri-mode trains for Transport for Wales, with these entering traffic in 2023.

Rock Rail owns the Greater Anglia fleet. Chief Operating Office Mike Kean told RAIL on September 4 it was possible that when a four-car ‘755/4’ requires an overhaul, one of its four diesel engines will be removed and replaced by a battery.

These are some thoughts.

What Is The Capacity Of A Single Battery?

This picture shows the PowerPack of a Class 755 train.

Note the two ventilated doors on the side. Currently, a diesel engine is behind each!

The PowerPack has four slots,; two on either side of the central corridor.

Each of the slots could take.

• A V8 16-litre Deutz diesel that can produce 478 kW and weighs 1.3 tonnes.
• A battery of a similar physical size.
• Possibly a hydrogen fuel-cell!

I would assume that the battery module is plug-compatible, the same physical size and similar weight to the diesel engine module, as this would make the design and dynamics of the train easier.

A 1.2 tonnes battery would hold around 120 kWh.

Kinetic Energy Of The Train

I will use my standard calculation.

• The basic train weight is 114.3 tonnes.
• If each of the 229 passengers weighs 90 kg with Baggage, bikes and buggies, this gives a passenger weight of 20.34 tonnes.
• This gives a total weight of 134.64 tonnes.

Using Omni’s Kinetic Energy Calculator gives these figures for the Kinetic energy.

• 50 mph – 9.34 kWh
• 60 mph – 13.5 kWh
• 75 mph – 21 kWh
• 90 mph – 30.3 kWh
• 100 mph – 37.4 kWh
• 125 mph – 58.4 kWh

Note.

1. Class 755 trains will not be able to run at 125 mph, but I have been told by someone who should know, that the trains have probably been designed, to enable this in other versions of the trains in the future.
2. The kinetic energy of the train at typical Greater Anglia service speeds is not very high.

These amounts of kinetic energy can be easily handled in a 120 kWh battery under regenerative braking, to improve the efficiency of the trains.

Range On Battery Power

Assuming that the train uses 3 kWh per vehicle mile (SeeHow Much Power Is Needed To Run A Train At 125 mph?) , this would give.

• A four-car train a range of ten miles.
• A three-car train a range of 13.3 miles.

This probably isn’t long enough given that these are Greater Anglia’s electrification gaps.

• Ely and Peterborough – 30 miles
• Ipswich and Cambridge – 41 miles
• Ipswich and Ely – 37 miles
• Ipswich and Felixstowe – 14 miles
• Ipswich and Lowestoft – 45 miles
• Marks Tey and Sudbury – 12 miles
• Norwich and Ely – 50 miles
• Norwich and Great Yarmouth – 18 miles
• Norwich and Lowestoft – 20 miles
• Norwich and Sheringham – 30 miles

It would appear that more battery capacity is needed, as the required range is around sixty miles on some routes.

In the July 2018 Edition of Modern Railways, there is an article entitled KeolisAmey Wins Welsh Franchise.

This is said about the Stadler Tri-Mode Flirts on the South Wales Metro.

The units will be able to run for 40 miles between charging, thanks to their three large batteries.

So does this mean that these Flirts have just one Deutz diesel engine of 478 kW and three batteries in the four slots of the power-pack?

Assuming that the Flirts use 3 kWh per vehicle mile, this gives these ranges.

• A four-car train a range of thirty miles.
• A three-car train a range of forty miles.

These ranges might give enough range for many the of East Anglian routes. Improvements in train efficiency and battery storage would only increase these ranges.

Class 755 Trains In Electric Mode

Being able to do this, is important, as if the Class 755 trains are to use battery power, then they will need to use 25 KVAC overhead electrification in the various electric islands around East Anglia to charge the batteries.

The article in Issue 888 of Rail Magazine, says this about running in electric mode.

GA Joint Project Manage Steve Mitchell told RAIL that the ‘755s’ can already operate on electric power between Norwich and London, but they must carry out Electro Magnetic Current testing on the Ely-Cambridge route.

When that is complete, they will operate Notwich-Ely in diesel mode, and Ely-Cambridge in electric.

At least it appears that the Northern bay platforms at Cambridge are electrified.

This would probably mean that no new infrastructure is needed.

As both Ipswich and Norwich stations are fully electrified, charging the batteries on hourly shuttles between the three stations, wouldn’t be a problem, if and when the trains are fitted with enough battery capacity to bridge the fifty mile gaps in the electrification on the routes.

Three-Car Trains And Batteries

The two short Southern routes; Coclester Town and Sudbury and Ipswich and Felixstowe will probably be run by three-car Class 755 trains, which have two diesel engines and two spare slots in the PowerPack.

Battery modules in both spare slots would give a twenty-seven mile range, which could enable the following.

• Running a return trip between Marks Tey and Sudbury, after charging the batteries on the main line between Colchester Town and Marks Tey.
• Running a return trip between Ipswich and Felixstowe, provided enough charge can be taken on at Ipswich.

The article in Issue 888 of Rail Magazine, also says this about the new Class 755 trains entering service.

The last line to receive them will be Sudbury-Marks Tey, will exclusively be operated by three-car Class 755/3s due to infrastructure restraints on the branch. No date has been given.

It should also be noted that the three-car trains are going to be the last to be delivered.

I feel that Stadler and Greater Anglia are following a cautious and very professional route.

Consider.

• They introduced the new trains on the Wherry Lines, which are close to the Crown Point Depot.
• Services between Norwich and Sheringham and Norwich and Cambridge were introduced next.
• All the initial services have used four-car trains
• Greater Anglia held on to the standby train of two Class 37 locomotives and Mark 2 coaches until last week.
• They have stated that training of Ipswich drivers is starting, ahead of services from the town to Cambridge, Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Peterborough.
• All the Ipswich cervices can be run using four-car trains.
• As I said earlier, the only service that needs a three-car train is Sudbury and Marks Tey.
• A three-car train could probably be thoroughly tested on one of the Norwich routes before deplayment to Sudbury.
• It should also be noted that a three-car train is only a four-car train with two less diesel engines and one less trailer car.

So far everything seems to have gone very well, with no adverse reports in the media.

Stadler have orders for further bi-mode trains for South Wales and other places in Europe. At least one of these orders, that for the South Wales Metro, includes a number of diesel/electric/battery versions.

Given the problems, that Bombardier and others have had with getting the complex software of these trains to work correctly, if I was Stadler’s Project Manager on multi-mode Flirts, I would be testing the trains and their software morning, noon and night!

So could the planned later arrival of the three-car Class 755 trains, be partly to enable Stadler to fully investigate the characteristics of a multi-mode Flirt?

After all, Greater Anglia only need a couple of three-car trains to start the service between Sudbury and Marks Tey, of the fourteen on order. And they have twenty-four four-car trains on order for the other routes.

They are also replacing twenty-four assorted diesel multiple units with thirty-eight longer new bi-mode multiple units.

I do wonder, if there is a cunning plan being hatched between Greater Anglia and Stadler.

• Stadler finalises the design and the software for a PowerPack, that contains both diesel and battery modules.
• Stadler thoroughly tests the design using a Greater Anglia three-car train in Switzerland.
• Stadler shows the concept to other prospective customers.
• Greater Anglia certifies the three-car Class 755 bi-mode train in the UK.
• Greater Anglia runs three-car 755 trains between Colchester Town and Sudbury, using the electrification between Marks Tey and Colchester Town, as they have planned for some time.
• When ready, Class 755 trains with batteries are introduced between Sudbury and Colchester Town.

Greater Anglia would be running the first battery-electric service using bi-mode battery-electric trains in the UK.

 

 

September 24, 2019 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Battery-Electric Trains, Class 755 Train, Greater Anglia, Regenerative Braking, Stadler