GERMANY: Alstom has demonstrated its prototype battery-powered Talent 3 electric-multiple unit in Sachsen, with the company’s President for Germany, Austria & Switzerland Müslüm Yakisan emphasising that the company ‘has the clear goal of becoming the international leader in alternative drive technologies for rail travel’.
The prototype unit carried invited passengers from Chemnitz to Flöha and Zschopau and back on September 7, switching en route from the 15 kV 16·7 Hz overhead to battery power.
Alstom said the BEMU developed at the former Bombardier Transportation plant in Hennigsdorf was the first to be approved for regular passenger service in Germany since the 1960s. The unit is scheduled to enter service in Baden-Württemberg and Bayern from the December 12 2021 timetable change.
Research partnership
‘Alongside our hydrogen train, this state-of-the-art battery-powered drive concept represents another milestone for the market launch of emission-free regional trains in Germany and worldwide’, said Yakisan.
The train is the outcome of research partnership launched in 2016, which was established to develop, obtain approval for and operate a battery-powered train, in order to demonstrate the overall economic viability of main line operation and provide recommendations for politicians, operators and public authorities seeking to use battery trainsets on non-electrified or partially-electrified routes.
Partners included Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom), Technical University of Berlin, operator DB Regio, regional transport authority Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, and the German National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technology. The Federal Ministry of Transport & Digital Infrastructure has provided €4m of funding from its innovation programme for electromobility.
The unit was assembled at Hennigsdorf, with the drive system including the roof-mounted traction batteries being developed and tested at Bombardier’s specialist battery and high-voltage laboratory in Mannheim. The prototype was demonstrated on the Hennigsdorf test track during InnoTrans 2018, ahead of field trials in various parts of the country.
Potential to replace diesel vehicles
The batteries can be charged from the 15 kV 16·7 Hz overhead line or using regenerated braking energy. TU Berlin’s Department of Railway Operations & Infrastructure has identified that a large proportion of the lines currently operated with diesel vehicles include non-electrified sections of well under 100 km. It believes that the existing overhead would be sufficient to allow battery vehicles to be operated on these lines without major infrastructure upgrades.
‘Our studies have clearly shown that in local rail passenger transport, battery-powered electric vehicles have the potential to successfully replace diesel vehicles’, said Professor Birgit Milius. ‘Our considerations have always taken the overall system into account. Aspects covering the vehicle, operation and infrastructure were analysed under various operating conditions in order to obtain reliable results.’
Last year Mittelsachsen transport authority ZVMS ordered 11 three-car BEMUs from Alstom as a follow on from an order for 29 Coradia Continental EMUs. The BEMUs are due to be deployed on Leipzig – Chemnitz services from December 2023, providing zero emission operation until the electrification of the route is completed.
- Read more about the battery EMU development in the November 2018 issue of Railway Gazette International magazine.
