UK’s intercity battery train starts 8-week trial

The UK’s intercity battery train has started testing on the country's national rail network with the eventual aim of reducing emissions and fuel costs by at least 30%.

Trials for the battery technology will be held on routes between York to Manchester Airport and Leeds to Liverpool Lime Street.  

The battery’s ability to improve performance on hills, regenerative charging via braking, fuel and emission savings, and zero-emission battery mode in train stations are among the parameters on which tests will be carried out over the next eight weeks, according to a media release. 

The battery train, a collaboration between TransPennine Express, Angel Trains and Hitachi Rail, has successfully completed low-speed tests on the test track at Hitachi Rail’s Newton Aycliffe manufacturing facility. During these tests the train was propelled entirely by the battery, producing zero tailpipe emissions, the media release said.

This is the first trial in the UK where a diesel engine is replaced with a battery on an intercity train.  

The battery generates a peak power of over 700kw and is estimated to reduce emissions and fuel costs by 30% on a Hitachi intercity train. Battery technology can also reduce costs by lowering the need for overhead wires in tunnel sections and over complex junctions.

Hitachi Rail is investing more than £15 million to develop this technology with Turntide Technologies in Sunderland.

“This trial is a huge step towards the rail industry in the UK — and around the world reducing CO2 emissions and we are excited to be part of it,” Paul Staples, Engineering, Safety and Sustainability Director at TransPennine Express, said. “TPE is dedicated to making our journeys greener by reducing our carbon footprint, creating resilience to climate change and improving local air quality.”

Hitachi was behind the world’s first passenger battery train in Japan and Europe’s first battery hybrid train in Italy in 2022.