Vivarail chosen for GWR fast charging trial.

[Fincra5]

Watch the video, it's highly complex compared with "pan up" or "shoe out onto bottom contact third rail".

I did, which is why I don't believe its that complex. It has to have fail-safes seeing as certain boards do not like Live Rails...

It sounds very complicated but the whole process will take seconds. As Vivarail stated they want Driver involvement to a bare minimum. I'm not sure on the turnaround times at West Ealing but adding additional processes adds time if a driver is involved. So automatic is better.

 

[mmh]

It sounds very complicated but the whole process will take seconds. As Vivarail stated they want Driver involvement to a bare minimum. I'm not sure on the turnaround times at West Ealing but adding additional processes adds time if a driver is involved. So automatic is better.

If the turnaround time is too short to want any driver involvement, will the amount of charge delivered be worth bothering to install all the equipment to supply it?

 

[Fincra5]

If the turnaround time is too short to want any driver involvement, will the amount of charge delivered be worth bothering to install all the equipment to supply it?

Thats a question for the Trial...

 

[philthetube]

I can assure you that the tfw 230s gensets certainly don't work very often, out of the 5 x 230's they are lucky to have 2 x 230's working. You cant blame tfw for the maintainance or design or the build or testing program as that's pure vivarail. Vivarail missed an opportunity to use the CAT power plant gen sets and carried on with the automotive derived ford ranger gen sets on the tfw units, these have many issues that results in poor reliability.

The LNW 230s actually worked for a whole week, that's good to hear they were productive for a complete week....
There's many parts that are D78 still the bodyshell that leadks during rainfall, the cab layout design that has no cab opening windows ! The suspension and bogies which bounce like a pogo stick on jointed track. I can testement to these having unfortunately travelled on a tfw 230 on the borderlands line....

Sorry wrong post.

 

[Greybeard33]

If the turnaround time is too short to want any driver involvement, will the amount of charge delivered be worth bothering to install all the equipment to supply it?

The plan is to deliver 1000A at 800V, I.e. 800kW. So about 130kWh of charge in the nominal 10 minute turnaround time. That is 20% of the train's total battery capacity of 600kWh, so definitely worth bothering.

They are not aiming to keep the batteries fully charged, just top them up enough to last the day out.

 

[DownFast]

The plan is to deliver 1000A at 800V, I.e. 800kW. So about 130kWh of charge in the nominal 10 minute turnaround time. That is 20% of the train's total battery capacity of 600kWh, so definitely worth bothering.

They are not aiming to keep the batteries fully charged, just top them up enough to last the day out.

Current turnaround times at West Ealing are 4 minutes though (assuming the train runs on time). Though that might have to change once a timing exercise on 230s is carried out. It'll be interesting to see if the sums add up.

 

[Zontar]

The only reason I've ever decried Vivarail is because the unreliability of their units caused a collapse of the Marston Vale timetable. If they've sorted that or the battery units don't suffer the same issues (most of them related to the diesel engines), great. In terms of travelling on them they are fine.

I agree. This and the Wrexham borders line.
I don't think anyone in here is against railway progression, but when progress isn't made, you can't get upset if people ask awkward or uncomfortable questions.

 

[wobman]

I agree. This and the Wrexham borders line.
I don't think anyone in here is against railway progression, but when progress isn't made, you can't get upset if people ask awkward or uncomfortable questions.

Many people that have trained on the tfw 230's say if they were reliable and they ran as vivarail said they would the units could work.

It's been mentioned by some staff why can't the tfw 230's have 3rd rail shoes refitted to boost the batteries at Bidston, they could have a layover in the Bidston sidings with some timetable reworking.

 

[Zontar]

I

Many people that have trained on the tfw 230's say if they were reliable and they ran as vivarail said they would the units could work.

It's been mentioned by some staff why can't the tfw 230's have 3rd rail shoes refitted to boost the batteries at Bidston, they could have a layover in the Bidston sidings with some timetable reworking.

As a bit of a tree hugger myself, I admire the concept and would dearly love to see them being reliable.

 

[Recessio]

Why not just throw a car/Tesla supercharger at the end of the platforms and run an extension lead out the cab window?