The Anonymous Widower

Fast Battery-Electric Hitachi Trains Between Paddington And Bristol Temple Mead Stations

It was when I was writing Thoughts On Lumo’s Proposed Paddington And Paignton Service, that I realised how significant Hitachi’s battery-electric high speed trains will be.

This page on the Hitachi web site gives this overview of their Intercity Battery Trains.

A quick and easy application of battery technology is to install it on existing or future Hitachi intercity trains. Hitachi Rail’s modular design means this can be done without the need to re-engineer or rebuild the train and return them to service as quickly as possible for passengers.

Replacing one diesel engine with just one battery reduces emissions by more than 20% and offers cost savings of 20-30%. Our intercity battery powered trains can cover 70km on non-electrified routes, operating at intercity speeds at the same or increased performance.

For the purpose of this exercise, I will assume the following.

• All trains are five-car trains.
• They were all originally manufactured as Class 800, 802 or 805 trains.
• They were all originally manufactured with three  750 kW Rolls-Royce mtu diesel generators.
• One diesel generator in each train has been replaced by a 750 kW battery-pack of the same size, weight and performance.

According to Hitachi’s web page, that I quote above, this gives intercity speeds at the same or increased performance, for 70 km. on non-electrified routes.

I will now look at how a Hitachi battery-electric high speed train would handle the line between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Mead stations.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the electrification between Chippenham and Bath Spa stations.

Note.

1. London Paddington and Bristol Temple Mead stations are 118.3 miles apart.
2. The blue arrow indicates Bath Spa station.
3. Bristol Temple Meads station is 11.5 miles to the West of Bath Spa station.
4. Chippenham station is in the North East corner of the map.
5. Black lines are not electrified.
6. Red lines are electrified with 25 KVAC overhead wires.
7. The 93.9 miles betweeen London Paddington and Chippenham is fully-electrified.
8. Red and black dotted lines are being electrified.
9. The 24.4 miles between Chippenham and Bristol Temple Mead stations is not electrified.
10. The residents of Bath Spa are not keen for the railway through Bath to be electrified.

The single battery-pack in the train, will have to propel the train between Chippenham and Bristol Temple Mead stations.

• On arrival at Chippenham, the battery will have been fully charged on the 93.9 miles from London Paddington.
• The train will be switched to battery power and proceed through Bath Spa station to Bristol Temple Meads station.
• The 24.4 miles between Chippenham and Bristol Temple Mead stations is only 39.26 km. so it is well within range of a single battery pack.
• The trains will be able to reach Bath, as fast as the track allows, so they could have come much of the way from London Paddington at speeds approaching 125 mph.

Hence my belief that Bath Spa could be reached in around an hour without any stops from London  Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads in a very fast time.

There may be a need to top up the battery at Bristol Temple Meads station for London trains to return to the electrification at Chippenham or for other trains to continue their journey through Bristol.

This could be handled by some lengths of electrification in platforms in Bristol Temple Meads station,  where the Hitachi trains terminate.

However, I feel Network Rail will be able to avoid the sensitive and possibly very challenging electrification through Bath.

Conclusion

London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads via Bath Spa trains would be substantially speeded up. Especially, if the first stop out of London Paddington were to be Bath Spa station.

Great Western Railway would only cut out the stops if they wanted to speed up services.

Who’d have thought, that powering services by batteries, would speed up services?

January 8, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Bath Spa Station, Battery-Electric Trains, Bristol Temple Meads Station, Great Western Railway, Hitachi, Lumo, Paddington Station, Partial Electrification