Vivarail’s little train has big ambitions for the future
The company’s in-house battery technology could be applied to other fleets for ‘off wires’ operations
By Paul Bickerdyke
VIVARAIL used the backdrop of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in early November to showcase the battery-powered version of its Class 230 ‘D-Train’.
It ran demonstration trains throughout the two-week event, including a trip across the Forth Bridge on October 30 – the first all-electric train to do so, and significant because electrifying the iconic structure would not be straightforward.
The two-car demonstrator No. 230001 is a battery-only version of the ‘D-Train’ concept and based on re-engineered former London Underground ‘D78’ Stock. Diesel-only versions are in service with London Northwestern on the Bedford-