GWR's New Battery Powered Train 

"Current test runs", "Potential", "Electrification", Jago, you are a wizard wordsmith.

the third rail seems to be a visually cleaner solution than what we do here in germany. our battery trains are basically normal emu's with an extra battery pack and are therefore charged with a length of overhead wire put up for that purpose

The concept I have long wanted is battery trains on routes that are partially electrified, e.g. Reading to Redhill. The train could charge when running on electrified sections, then use battery on the non electrified sections. No new infrastructure and no fast-charging required.

Surely it would be a good idea to have one of these charging points at a few of the stations so that if there is a "delay" or an unexpected low power situation, they can top up instead of blocking the line.

I remember going between the overhead wires 'on batteries' on a trolleybus in Kingston. Just thought I'd mention it.

Thank you, that's a good solution for branch lines, like Slough - Windsor, Maidenhead - Bourne End - Marlow etc. I also like/love the fact that these are repurposed Tube trains and really hope that the technology is transferable to 'heritage' rail stock so that it can enjoy a new/second life for coming generations to enjoy?! I'm sure that Mr I. K. Brunel would approve, he was great at thinking 'outside the box', but with his feet firmly on the ground, just look at the legacy he's left us!

Id would have thought Brunel would be fascinated by the engineering. Electricity wasnt really a big thing in his day (unless you knew someone who flew kites in thunderstorms) so this would have really peaked his curiosity.

Notes. Many new batteries don’t contain and RE materials like lithium or cobalt. They’re just heavier as a result. Not so much an issue on a train. Battery / electric trains can add power to their battery or the grid through braking, which diesels waste. Managed correctly, a battery can last a very very long time. Electricity, particularly that charged at off peak times, like these will be from their fixed line side battery will generally use stored energy farmed through sustainable sources.

I was a spotty school kid when the D78 trains were introduced on the District line. They seemed like space age technology after the 1930s CP stock. Imagine bare aluminium trains with straight sides 😃 and buttons for passengers to open the doors 🤩. Wow! I loved them 😀.

Adrian Shooter, a railwayman legend. RIP.

I was quite disappointed when these trains were withdrawn from service on the Bletchley to Bedford line so its great to see them again. Now I know why I saw 230001 when on the Lizzy line last Friday.

Not dissimilar to the light rail in Newcastle (Australia) where the trams are battery powered and recharge during stops with an overhead bar which the pantograph connects to, topping up the battery.

I saw that parked in West Ealing sidings at the weekend, it’s perfect for these little branch lines.

Australia currently produces 47% of the world’s lithium. While we don’t have perfect mining practices, I’m pretty sure we are better than say whatever happens in Saudi Arabia or Russia to produce diesel.

Don't forget the new Merseyrail class 777s are battery operation from Kirkby to Headbolt Lane station.

Excellent analysis of a very interesting development. And I appreciated the shout out for the late, great Adrian Shooter, a true railway innovator.

So pleased to see this after following for many years, this is a wonderful piece of reuse and upgrades on traffic

"Eliminate diesel traction from the National Network by 2040". Best of luck with the West Highland lines in Scotland, then.

Interesting. I immediately thought of the Epping Ongar line when I first saw this train on the news.

Just to point out a few things.... Coal is only used for 1.6% of UK power production and will he phased out by this October... But even if the national grid was 100% coal, the GWR battery train would still have a smaller carbon footprint than a class 165. Secondly lithium mining... Clearly there are other ways of extraction of lithium than just mining, but it has a lower carbon footprint than oil extraction (and unlike oil, you can recycle lithium when you are done with it).

GREENFORD MENTIONED ❤❤❤❤❤❤

"You are the charging rail to my battery." Always love how Jago does these lines - and quite pleased I managed to guess this one in advance!

That’s an interesting development. Great to see Greenford taking part in the trials. Let’s hope it’s a great success. It would be good to see these trains on the Twyford - Henley branch line. 👍😀

I remember riding a tram in Nanjing about ten years ago that used a similar system of charging onboard batteries at stops.

Be good down our way, especially on the Severn Beach Line or on the proposed spur to Gravity when that's finished.

This would make excellent sense on the Scarborough to York shuttle. It's lowish speed has few stops and could comfortably stop for a mid way 'top up' at Malton, for 4 minutes.

Love the packed lunches and water at 1:57.

Some notes,there have battery buses using the fast charger type systems running for some years,so the validity of the idea is sound! The real test,is how they can handle heavy snow/rain events,and deal with out of course broken rails,etc.,as those problems crop up,on a sometimes yearly basis! However,may this experiment be successful as,the world does need a heavy duty rethink about public transportation! Thank you Jago,and the power of the Press goes forward! Thank you 😇 😊!

Went to School next to Castle Bar Park back in the 80s when the bubble xares class 121 and 122s worked the branch. Didn't learn much just watching the trains all day. Done decadeson the Railway now.

Ideal for the Henley and the Marlow GWR branch lines.

This is a great idea. It sounds ideal for the many branch lines across the UK and elsewhere. I really hope it works.

I am a regular at Bristol Temple Meads station. In the summer, when it was hot and there was no wind the diesel fumes were choking. The work on the main shed roof did not help reducing the effective height. Must be worse for the staff. I could move away from trains sitting at platforms with engines running, but they can’t always. (during covid one London train would sit at the platform for over an hour with the engines running) There are blocks of flats close to the platforms, and more student accommodation is being built next to the station. (How much student accommodation does Bristol need?)The fumes can’t be good for people living there. I am not into climate panic, but anything that helps clean up the air gets my support.

I like that they're testing it on this short branch. I have liked the diversity of front designs for this branch/GWRs. Indeed, that first battery-powered locomotive was Stafford in TTTE. I am quite fascinated for the old district line train, refurbished.

I love this! It has the potential to really revolutionise rural train connections.

Fascinating stuff Jago. It's a relief the idea didn't die with Adrian Shooter. Developments in both battery tech, control tech and generating mean the concept is far more advanced than for the GSR/Drumm battery trains once employed on the ex-Dublin & South Eastern commuter services. Actually, I reckon the aforementioned Dr.James Drumm's work is deserving a clip all of his own. Has anyone considered electifying a Pacer or two? OK ... I'll just get my coat .....

I waited for you to confirm it used to be a District Line Train. I saw one in one of the "siding branches" as I was coming into Reading once, only one. Others around it were normal trains (not the high speed ones).

There's quite a few examples of this in Japan, some of which I went out of my way to ride on. It's definitely an ideal solution to keep branch lines open for the social benefits and keeping costs down, yet without significant drawbacks.

Wonderful idea , used on existing lines may make existing uneconomical branch lines a more attractive proposition.

I really think this idea is one of the greatest in railway history. Even though I’m from Australia, I really do think this technology could work on many branch lines like the looe valley line and even some lines in east anglia. Great work on covering the content Jago I love your work.

Grreeeaaahhh this is the coolest bit of train tech I've seen in years! Faster can only do so much, increasing accessibility, reducing costs and providing better service is where the real rail innovation is!

Good to see the reconditioned old District Line trains still in syndication 👏🏾🚉

I personally do think that Great Western Railway should allow the battery powered trains to work on the Slough-Windsor & Eton Central, Maidenhead-Bourne End-Marlow and Twyford-Henley-on-Thames branch lines and to test run them if they could be allowed to operate on those branch lines in Berkshire.

Re lithium: there's a technological shift in the winds whereby rechargeable batteries could be made using sodium instead of lithium. It's early days but likely to happen for larger batteries at least, such as for applications like this one. If successful any issues with lithium supply would evaporate, because sodium is everywhere, most notably in sodium chloride sources such as seawater and salt deposits.

Excellent initiative! I want to see this used more on trams, partly for aesthetic reasons (wires in the air aren't pretty) but also for reduced maintenance, almost every disruption to traffic is that a wire has malfunctioned or been hit by a truck or damaged by a careless crane driver, or a digger etc.

Thanks Jago, that was interesting & in my case I would never have guessed that was an old choo choo from the tube !

Dear Jago, that was a really well rounded review, I would say. You nailed down all the pro and cons in a really objective and logical way. I know why I keep coming back to your channel.

Congratulations, GWR DfT, battery-powered passenger rail. Half a century later than Seaton Tramway first operated it successfully in the 70s...

The manufacturer shipped one of those over here (the US) saying they were going to do demonstrations around the country but so far it’s just been sitting in a shed at a trolley museum. As a side note, the charging rails look exactly like the charging rails for the trains in Miniland at LEGOLAND and it is messing with my mind

i'd love to see such a battery powering system in combination with the already existing third rail network(s) in the uk. that would open possibilities for completely new lines!

The new 230s seem really cool, but those seats... they look rock solid

That's genuinely quite cool, it charging in four minutes feels so bizzare to me so I hope it works

The British national grid is currently about 30% gas fueled. 1% coal, and the rest low carbon of various types (wind, nuclear, solar, hydro) etc. Gas (CCGT) power stations are about twice as efficient as diesel engines, so electric trains already have about 85% lower carbon emissions than diesels.

would be great to have these on the GWR metro service in Bristol - going back there after living in London for a year and having fast frequent electric trains everywhere, having a single diesel powered branch line running 2 trains per hour feels like such a step away from modernity - at least some for of electrification would be a step in the right direction

I guess I have two main issues with the concept: (1) the main benefit of electrification as compared with diesel isn’t the reduction in emissions it’s that it increases frequency to not have to refuel the train and constantly maintain the engine, because when you look at the amount of people diesel trains can move and the distance they travel the emissions they produce aren’t particularly concerning as compared with cars or planes. This train doesn’t take full advantage with the fast charging taking time that could be used running and also wasting significant amounts of electricity as fast charging means the battery never reaches 100% capacity and requires constant replacement. As you say this appears to be strategy for branch lines so the frequency issue might not matter but the inefficiency of it will likely need to be addressed further down the line. (2) This solution largely exists because governments are unwilling to invest in rail, it would be interesting to see the amount of money these companies spend trying to develop this technology compared with the estimated costs of electrification. For railways like the GWR which have a lot of third rail they could use overhead electrification when they enter newly electrified areas and third rail when they enter legacy electrified areas as Thameslink does. Perhaps the main reason I’m wary of this is that it’s solving a problem we already have a solution to. We know how to make trains electric with time tested technology and I worry that given the urgency of climate change spending resources on what *might* work when a solution exists already just because governments are afraid to spend money is kind of a sad microcosm of a lot of the renewables spending governments are engaging in.

What an excellent concept! Thanks for the video.

I was thinking recently about GWR disruptions when Old Oak Common gets built. Had there been electrification on the tiny connection at Reading between GW mainline and the line to Waterloo, or on the Basingstoke line, they could run the dense capacity dual voltage 387s to Waterloo as a diversion instead of the first-class-heavy, non-third-rail IETs, which is the current idea, which is far less efficient as a diversion. Battery technology would’ve been great for stuff like this, bypassing oddball tracks in unusual scenarios to improve connectivity.

I think we'll see a lot of diesel and combined diesel/external-electric units replaced by battery or battery/external-electric units over the years. Fast-charging every stop (and while connected to overhead/third-rail for combined units) is a lot less infrastructural requirement than fully electrifying a lot of non-electrified rail.

congrats GWR, great idea... 👍

Some amazing shots. Well done Jaganonies!

You're well charged Jago 😊

Great video! Sorry I didn’t get to meet you on Friday but thanks for coming and getting the video up. Mark

Brilliant idea! Was thinking potentially they could do this on a wider scale if they installed these charging points at stations. Trains could charge when they stop to pick up passengers. Does seem to have potential.

The advantage of going Electric, is that as the Grid goes 'Greener', with more Renewable power being generated, then the Trains using it go 'Greener', too ... There was a Company that was experimenting with fitting Tesla Battery Packs a few years ago, was this them ? We used to live in Minehead, Somerset, and there was a campaign there to re-open the West Somerset Heritage railway to commuter traffic into Taunton, - and I always thought that Battery trains would be ideal for that !

The first electric trams in Denmark was called syresporvognen, the acid tram. There was a battery under each seat. This consisted mainly of a big tank of acid. There was a sour smell in the trams. This was in the 1890's

Look up Drumm Battery EMU of 1930s Dublin The concept never changed, the potential or patents of Drumm's battery chemistry bought out by an oil company in the 1950s and hampered by the partition of Ireland from the 1920s on

This is really exciting, let's hope the tests are successful and it really takes off.

Interestingly it seems that the lead acid battery was invented in the same year that IK Brunel died. Experimental electric vehicles had been built for about 20 years before then, although the first electric train was still many years in the future, it's not unreasonable to think that Brunel may have been aware of the concept.

Are the batteries onboard prone to failure (possibly in an unsafe way)? Is the testing being done to reduce instances of failure?

Great vid, good idea for electrification. But your point of CO2 and other pollutants being generated elsewhere is only partially correct. Think of it this way, at least for electricity, it's a "single" point source for CO2, etc..., and as such, it's far easier to build and maintain things like carbon capture, and other pollution controls at a "single" point, than on hundreds, thousands, or millions of vehicles, including trains. Yep, not a silver bullet, but everything combined together, would go a long way towards improving things. I'd love to see my city, Edmonton Alberta adopt this over traditional supply for our LRT system, given all the issues we've had with O/H supply having to be redone before the lines are commissioned. Thanks for showing this!

An interesting video, though I'm not sure why you felt the need to mention dodgy mining methods for lithium - it wasn't the lithium mining which was contentious, it was cobalt, and that scandal has thankfully been addressed, especially as current traction batteries now use other metals. The comment about power generation is also outdated now that there is a high percentage of renewables powering the grid - on which all electric trains run.

Worth mentioning these have also been operated by Transport for Wales on the borderlands line (intermittently) for a couple of years. Edit: the tfw units are diesel units, not battery only, so I guess they aren't as clean.

i still remember the D stock.. surprised to see it still in use! :D

I see another Jago video has been uploaded and I just can’t resist watching it.

I didn't know about this. A great concept well presented.

Great video. It’s likely the batteries aren’t being charged evenly from the grid, but charged overnight (off peak and cheaper) when possible. We already see this is some IT data centres.

An interesting video. Thank you for your insight Mr H.

I think it will be useful for short journeys.

Surely railways would be a great candidate for swapping drained batteries for charged ones when stopped? Would remove the need for such high speed charging with its associated complications.

Great video Jago

And I remember we were riding, riding in the EMU, speed so fast I felt a little off... On a more serious note, something similar should be coming soon to Chicago. Last month the board of Metra, the commuter rail operator, announced a contract with Stadler Rail to purchase FLIRT battery-electric trainsets, with the intention of running them on the Beverly Branch of the Rock Island Line. I don't know if they would run on just the branch, or make the full run between Blue Island and LaSalle Street Station. They will charge by pantograph and overhead rail, and will be constructed in Stadler's US works in Salt Lake City.

"the aim is to eliminate diesel traction from the national rail network by 2040" Such a good idea to cancel electrification of Cardiff to Swansea! To achieve 2040, they'll pay over the odds for electro-diesels, then have to electrify. Rather than doing it in one go. Maybe some electro-diesels will see life beyond Swansea? Onward to Carmarthen, Milford Haven, but they will probably be grossly excessive for running what is pretty much a branch line service.

Nice video and also a big solution in rail technology 👍

LT had a go at Battery powered tube stock on the line that ran from Finsbury Park thru Stroud Green, Muswell Hill to Ally Pally, (proposed new works, never happened) line in the 1960s. There are somewhere some photos of the train at Crouch End Station. I guess old lead-acid stuff just fit not hack it. Maybe a video someday. Thank you for this one.

It's certainly an interesting idea and, along with projects such as the Parry People Movers, does have a great deal of potential - it will be interesting to see how it copes in service.

Blimey West Ealing has changed a bit since I used to use it!!

We have battery trams in Newcastle, Australia. The big advantage is no unsightly overhead wiring as well as cost. They charge for a few seconds at each stop by using a retractable pantograph.

Nice clips Jago

The branch lines down here in Devon and Cornwall are significantly longer. It will be interesting to see how well the technology develops to cope with something like the run from Exeter to Barnstaple (or even Bideford if that proposal comes to fruition).

You mean they might actually retire the Thames Turbo?! Goodness. They've been going through my local station since I was a child. I don't think I'll ever forget the sound even if they are replaced by a battery train.

Iron oxide are the new batteries of choice they are now on the market. I would love to see battery powered trains on the Cardiff to Portsmouth line which is run by GWR😊

Looking forward to seeing these on the Marlow Donkey run!

This tech is wonderful, all electrification is good! However, I worry it’s going to become a way to avoid full electrification for the sake of “saving money” on services that really should be fully electric. Hopefully that issue can be avoided! For branch lines it’s great, and I can also imagine it working well with electric shunters in big goods yards / harbours where there’s a huge number of lines that are all quite short (a nightmare for full electrification, I imagine).

I was wondering what was going on with this! West Ealing is my local station and I've noticed those charging points lying there for a while now.

I used to cycle past their (Vivarail) test track in Long Marston on a regular basis, they got through a fair bit of D stock.

It's an interesting development, and I'm glad at least one operator had the sense to take Vivarail stuff onboard when it went under *cough LNR cough* but I do worry a little that this success will be used to put off mainline electrification even further. Battery trains are definitely suited to lesser-used branches but some people are already touting them as an 'alternative' to OHLE in general.

You captured the positive and the negative in this video. Hope you managed to get a cell-fie pic with the new train.

Ah, the old push'n'pull line.

The Metro in Birmingham already uses Battery power along several sections of its line...

Positively electrifying Jago cheers...

Fantastic video sir.