UK: The Scottish government has approved calls for tenders to finance and manufacture a fleet of bi-mode battery electric multiple-units to operate on the East Kilbride, Fife and Borders routes.
These BEMUs would replace 42 Class 156 DMUs and 55 Class 318 and 320 EMUs in the Strathclyde area.
The Scottish government has also approved further work to develop proposals for the partial electrification of the Borders Railway.
Meanwhile, work is to get underway this month on a scheme developed by Transport Scotland and Network Rail for the partial electrification of the Fife Circle, when Network Rail launches the first piling drive between Haymarket and Dalmeny. Under the £55m work package, foundations will be laid for masts that will carry overhead wires up to the Forth Bridge; a total of 25 track-km is to be electrified by December 2024. This would support the planned operation of BEMUs on the reopened line to Leven.
A rolling programme of electrification is also being proposed which would eventually extend to Dundee and Aberdeen.
‘Delivery of the Fife Decarbonisation project will support introduction of new rolling stock through partial electrification’, said Scottish Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth on June 1. ‘It will also help towards the delivery of our Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan which will see removal of all diesel on passenger services by 2035.’
- Subscribers can read an in-depth article about how Transport Scotland and the operator view decarbonisation and the return of ScotRail passenger services to public control in the June issue of Railway Gazette International magazine.
