British Ministry of Transport wants to use solar energy for train traction

Siemens Mobility, the University of York and British Solar Renewables have been selected to carry out two contracts to develop and test new solutions for railway traction power supply. Funds are allocated by the UK Department of Transport under the First of A Kind program, implemented by the state agency Innovate UK. Railway Supply magazine writes about this with reference to zdmira.

The first contract is aimed at completing research and development work to achieve compatibility of solar power plants and other renewable energy sources with a 25 kV AC traction power supply system. The result should be a converter prototype and demonstration runs of electric trains on the East Coast mainline using solar power in 2023. The project will also involve the British railway infrastructure operator Network Rail, freight operator DB Schenker and passenger transport operators.

Another partisan attack led to the burning of a Russian train

The second contract provides for the study of the possibility of using low-cost traction battery recharging points on non-electrified sections, which can become part of routes served by contact battery trains. At the same time, recharging of traction batteries should be provided through ordinary train pantographs, and power supply to recharging points should be provided from local power networks. The participants in this project will be Network Rail, transport operators and Angel Trains, a British rolling stock manufacturer.

Railway news you might have missed:

Elf EN62-001 out of work again