From the article, looks like this thing can time travel too.
“This is a vital step towards our ambition to remove all diesel and new trains from the UK rail network by 2014."
I really hope they can get rid of all those new trains too . Rail travel just isn’t the same without the dank smells
Makes me wonder if this is cheaper than refitting a train line with overhead wiring and if not possible, power rails.
Almost certainly not, expanding 2.5 miles of additional catenary or especially third rail really isn’t going to have that much of a cost compared to specialized rolling stock. It’s also worth noting that the longer the route the less practical it is just down to the scale of battery needed and time it wastes charging.
Well, trials are there for a reason. Battery-only-powered trains could be a good idea or a bad idea.
Remember the trial project for overhead wiring for trucks on the motorway? It ran for a couple of years, and the end result was that it wasn’t feasible, despite some interesting benefits. But if it weren’t for the trial, some people would still think it was feasible, while others would think it was unfeasible.
I’m leaning more on the unfeasible side with this train, but let’s just see what happens.
The article covered that. This is designed to be cheaper apparently…
Thanks, glimpsed over that line too fast. So durability concerns are most likely the limiting factor, hence the trial run. If, say, the battery can’t keep up wih continuously getting topped up and fails after a short time, it’s impractical/expensive. But could be the other way around as well.
The most efficient and sustainable battery is none at all, in some cases this is not possible, but for trains the alternative is literally older than sliced bread.
These are much more then “former District Line trains” - they re-used the aluminium body shells and some of the internal structures (including a number of seat frames) since they were very much still in good condition, but the rest of the train is completely overhauled.