COMMENT
Funding sought for new ultra light rail service in the West Midlands
Adam Hewitt reports on the latest for ‘ultra light rail’.
Consortium won ‘Radical Train’ funding last year for its bid to develop ultra light rail vehicles – and it is already planning potential passenger services.
T
Rail Ltd, Warwick Manufacturing Group centre a low-carbon, very-lightweight passenger railcar via a demonstrator.
technology will be combined with a self- powered bogie and modular, composite bodyshell design. The project intends to manufacturing cost and improve reliability and maintainability.”
Radical Train is the competition run by FutureRailway (previously the Enabling Innovation
Team) to
approaches to re-thinking the basics of rolling stock and to bring about a “step change in performance” on UK railways.
its vehicle as an ultra light rail service between support from the local councils and Centro, the West Midlands transport authority. The years, alongside a new National Centre for
The new service could transport passengers
Unique drivetrain
RTM talked to Martin Pemberton, CEO and so we’re six months into the development programme. Most of the work has centred around developing the drivetrain – it’s a series hybrid drivetrain built into the bogies, so it’s quite unique – and also a lightweight
bodyshell, which we’re currently scheming out. The traction method will be clean diesel, driving electrically-driven bogies.
“It’s early days, but we’re making good progress and we’re on schedule. The intention is to deliver a demonstrator vehicle within two years of the June 2014 start date.”
said: “We’ve been talking to a number of people about other places it might operate: it’s got great potential, especially operating on smaller lines and branch lines, where heavier, more
That’s what we’re working toward, and if we can get a successful operation running there, then that obviously opens up opportunities in lots of other places.”
encourage novel
Asked whether it could be in passenger eminently possible. The technology we can do, we can manufacture things quickly, we do that a lot – it’s really having the political will to make it happen. We need the funding and for politicians to green-light it.
“There are other potential applications, particularly with [replacing] the ageing Pacer
Standards and derogations
A traditional problem with radical new vehicles for the national network has been the standards, particularly on crashworthiness. The Consortium says it wants to “evaluate the application of existing, essentially ‘heavy rail’, discussion paper”.
Pemberton told us: “The easy win is the branch lines, because in terms of regulation, it’s easier when they’re operating on a segregated route. The minute you cross onto a main line, you’re wouldn’t rule that out, and we’re working with the existing standards.
the local authority to be the operator of the line. We are also looking at Malaysian and African applications. Other potential UK use may include It is, however, disappointing that there is little interest yet in including similar proposals in future re-franchising bids, although with the current railcars our reliability is now above 99.7% and therefore there are considerable franchise. Old traditions die hard elsewhere.”
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“In fact, we’re tasked with challenging some of that’s one of the things they’ve asked us to do.
“If we come to a point where, for example, the current crashworthiness requirements seem onerous for what we’re trying to achieve with up.”
A centre of excellence for light rail innovation
The Black Country strategic economic plan describes the region’s hope of becoming “the UK Centre of Excellence for Light Rail Innovation…which, utilising opportunities for a demonstrator track, will create opportunities for skills and employment, and develop the capacity in the UK to build rather than import light rail vehicles.”
The new vehicles being developed by town centre since 2009. Its operators want People Movers. Phil Evans, director of PMOL (Pre Metro Operations Ltd), which operates London Midland, told RTM: “We progress and continue to talk to those interested in using our innovative technology combined with an
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