Battery technology could allow existing DMUs to go emission-free, Vivarail Chairman ADRIAN SHOOTER tells PHILIP SHERRATT
Vivarail is a very different company to when it was set up. Back then, its Chairman Adrian Shooter had spotted an impending shortage of diesel trains and proposed converting former London Underground ‘D’ stock vehicles into DMUs to provide a solution for branch lines.
Now the company is abandoning diesel altogether and focusing on zero-emission solutions. ‘We’re not a company which bodges up old Underground trains, we’re a company developing technology that can be used in a variety of scenarios,’ Mr Shooter points out.
The company’s order book so far bears out this development. First up were 3x2-car diesel-powered Class 230s for West Midlands Trains, which operate on the Bedford to Bletchley line. Then came diesel/battery hybrid ‘230s’ for Transport for Wales, with 5x3-car sets ordered. Two of these have now been delivered to their base at Stadler’s Birkenhead depot, with TfW planning to introduce them on the Wrexham to Bidston line next year.
Mr Shooter says the Welsh trains will be the last built by Vivarail which incorporate diesel engines. The company is currently building 5x2-…
