First battery-electric train for Dublin’s DART+ network unveiled

IRELAND: The first battery-electric multiple-unit for the DART+ programme to enhance commuter train services around Dublin has been unveiled at Alstom’s Katowice factory in Poland.

DART+ will see the 1·5 kV DC overhead around Dublin extended from 50 km to 150 km, with trains using battery power to run beyond the wires until electrification is completed.

Framework contract

In December 2021 national railway Iarnród Éireann awarded Alstom a 10-year framework agreement covering the supply and 15 years of maintenance of up to 750 vehicles for the DART+ programme, formed into five-car or 10-car sets and configured as either EMU or BEMU trainsets.

There was an initial firm order for six five-car EMUs to provide urgently needed extra capacity on the existing DART network, plus 13 five-car BEMUs to expand services. The first BEMU is scheduled to be delivered in September 2024. All the initial trains are scheduled to be in in service by the end of 2025.

A second order placed in December 2022 covers 18 five-car BEMUs to enter service from autumn 2026 for full fleet operation by late spring 2027.

Services between Dublin and Drogheda will be the first to be worked by the BEMUs, with the sets running on battery power over the 37 km unwired section north of Malahide. Charging will only be possible at special charging facilities, not from the 1·5 kV DC overhead, and Alstom is to install an initial three charging points at Drogheda.

Train design

The 145 km/h five-car articulated BEMU unveiled on April 29 is part of Alstom’s X’trapolis modular commuter train platform.

It is 80 m long with 204 seats and a nominal capacity of 551 passengers, and features air-conditioning, wide inter-car gangways and ETCS. There is level access with automatic retractable steps at each doorway leading into low floor sections, and short ramps leading to higher floor areas over the bogies.

The water-cooled lithium ion batteries are roof-mounted at the outer ends of both driving vehicles, with a capacity of 840 kWh per unit. The operator is expecting a range of 80 km from batteries near the end of their operational life with 75% of initial capacity, when running fully loaded, with HVAC operating. This expectation includes requiring operation for a 90 min period with all onboard equipment in use whilst not using the overhead power supply, for example during a layover in Dublin.

Production and testing

Ireland’s 1 600 mm gauge means that all testing will have to be carried out on the Iarnród Éireann network rather than at a testing facility. The first trainset has been fully assembled and placed on bogies in Poland, but production of the rest of the fleet will see the bodies transferred to Dublin by road where they will be united with bogies delivered directly from France.

The battery packs will also be manufactured in Poland, but transport safety rules mean that they will be taken separately to Dublin for fitting to the trains at Iarnród Éireann’s Inchicore depot, where a testing and commissioning facility has been constructed.

Outside Dublin

With some of its DMU fleets close to life-expiry, Iarnród Éireann says that the BEMU design would be an option for the Cork Area Commuter Rail programme to enhance the local network, as well as for Galway and Limerick. As there is no electrification outside the Dublin area, these trains would operate solely in battery mode.