The Anonymous Widower

Home | Pages | Archives

Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle By Battery-Electric Class 802 Train

August 18, 2023 2:07 pm

After my visit to Morley station, which I wrote about in Morley Station – 17th August 2023, in this post, I look at how a battery-electric Class 802 train might run between Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle stations.

These are the various sections of the route.

• Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria – 31.6 miles – 36 minutes – Electrified
• Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield – 25.7 miles – 30 minutes – Not Electrified
• Huddersfield and Dewsbury – 8 miles – 7 minutes – Currently Being Electrified
• Dewsbury and Leeds – 9.1 miles – 14 minutes – Not Electrified
• Leeds and York – 25.8 miles – 30 minutes – Currently Being Electrified
• York and Newcastle – 80.2 miles – 58 minutes – Electrified

Note.

1. Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria, Leeds and York and York and Newcastle are all long enough to fully charge a battery-electric train.
2. There is electrification of both ends of the route.
3. Manchester Victoria and York is a distance of 68.6 miles.
4. The total route length is a distance of 180.4 miles.

In the August 2023 Edition of Modern Railways, there is an article, which is entitled GWR Seeks Opportunities To Grow.

This is the sub-heading.

Managing Director Mark Hopwood tells Philip Sherratt there is plenty of potential to increase rail’s economic contribution.

This is a paragraph.

Meanwhile, GWR had announced plans with Eversholt Rail to trial the replacement of a diesel generator unit with batteries on a Class 802 IET. However, Mr. Hopwood says this would not be useful for GWR and so the trial is not proceeding; instead, a TransPennine Express Class 802 will be the subject of a battery trial.

Could the trial be conducted on TransPennine Express’s Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle route?

• The total route length is a distance of 180.4 miles.
• The two electrified sections at the ends of the route; Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria and York and Newcastle are both long enough to fully charge a battery-electric train.
• The central section between Manchester Victoria and York is not overly long at 68.6 miles.
• The route is convenient for Hitachi’s headquarters at Newton Aycliffe.

It looks like, the Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle route would make an ideal test route for battery-electric Class 802 trains.

Manchester Piccadilly And Newcastle By Battery-Electric Class 802 Train

This is a very similar route to the Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle route with a different Western terminal.

These are the various sections of the route.

• Manchester Piccadilly and Huddersfield – 25.5 miles – 42 minutes – Not Electrified
• Huddersfield and Dewsbury – 8 miles – 10 minutes – Currently Being Electrified
• Dewsbury and Leeds – 9.1 miles – 14 minutes – Not Electrified
• Leeds and York – 25.8 miles – 30 minutes – Currently Being Electrified
• York and Newcastle – 80.2 miles – 58 minutes – Electrified

Note.

1. Turnround time at Manchester Piccadilly and York and Newcastle are all long enough to fully charge a battery-electric train.
2. There is electrification of both ends of the route.
3. Manchester Piccadilly and York is a distance of 68.4 miles.
4. The total route length is a distance of 148.5 miles.

Like the Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle route, I believe the Manchester Piccadilly And Newcastle route would make an ideal test route for battery-electric Class 802 trains.

Posted by AnonW

Categories: Transport/Travel

Tags: Class 802 Train, Electrification, Hitachi, Liverpool Lime Street Station, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Morley Station, Newcastle Station, TransPennine Express

« Older Newer »

2 Responses to “Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle By Battery-Electric Class 802 Train”

1. There not electrifying fully to Leeds yet only upto Church Fenton although why not is beyond me really straight forward route minimal civils required.

   Are they only going to change out one engine though on 802 to get battery experience although again why the prevarication battery technology is proven yes it might improve a bit more next year but we have to start somewhere

   By Nicholas Lewis on August 18, 2023 at 8:22 pm

   1. There have been virtually no progress reports on how the project to create a battery pack to replace a diesel power pack on a Class 802. The only firm news is that the project has been moved from GWR to TPE.

      As the batteries are being built in Sunderland and Hitachi are at Newton Aycliffe, this is probably sensible for reasons of testing.

      Given that a FLIRT Akku, which is a similar type of train to an 802 has done well over a hundred miles on battery power, I wouldn’t be surprised that the Makems working on the batteries have done similar. But they will want the Guinness World Record.

      A hundred miles on batteries with selective short lengths of 25 KVAC overhead electrification would virtually electrify all the UK’s passenger services.

      As a sixteen-year-old, I was building plug compatible transistorised electronics to replace outdated valve equipment in a rolling mills.

      I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the new battery-packs look like a diesel pack to the train’s computer and the driver.

      The only problem is how do you decarbonise freight. I wouldn’t rule out Class 99 locomotives being converted from diesel to hydrogen by Cummins.

      These are all solutions driven by engineers.

      By AnonW on August 19, 2023 at 8:49 am

Leave a Reply

Mobile Site | Full Site

Get a free blog at WordPress.com Theme: WordPress Mobile Edition by Alex King.