A battery-powered Vivarail Class 230 multiple-unit is to be launched at the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, and will run daily services throughout the event in November. The Hoppecke batteries provide a range of 130 km. They can be recharged in 10 min using Vivarail’s patented Fast Charge system, which was developed with support from an Innovate UK grant and will shortly begin the final stage of Network Rail approvals testing, ahead of a live trial on the Greenford line in early 2022. The supplier of trains for GWR’s Greenford battery train trial is still be decided.
Site lighting equipment company Trime has developed X-Rail Kit to provide zero-emission trackside lighting powered by a 200 Ah lithium battery and recharging pack. The LED lamps an illuminate an area of up to 1 300 m2 for more than 40 h on a single charge, and the complete unit can be recharged in 3 h 40 min.
PM Training & Assessing and the Centre of Excellence in Mobile & Emerging Technologies at the University of South Wales have developed a virtual reality training system to give engineers an understanding of what can go wrong if railway systems are tested incorrectly.
South Western Railway has awarded Icomera a contract to upgrade wi-fi equipment on its Class 15x DMUs to support additional in-train entertainment services.
M Group Services’ Antagrade, Dyer & Butler and KH Engineering Services businesses have signed up to the Railway Mental Health Charter framework which aims to help rail companies promote, manage and support workforce mental wellbeing.
Greater Anglia has launched a flexible parking season ticket covering eight parking sessions within 28 days of purchase, matching the new Flexi Season ticket introduced this year. The parking tickets are to be made available at 23 station car parks, with varying prices and a saving of up to 12·5% compared to daily peak time rates.
Kenan Poleo, who was appointed UK Consul General & Trade Commissioner for Eastern Europe & Central Asia on September 1, has visited the newly-appointed Chairman & CEO of Turkish infrastructure manager TCDD to discuss opportunities for co-operation in the rail sector.
RAIB makes four recommendations and identifies three learning points in its report into a near miss with a member of staff at Rowlands Castle on December 19 2020. Three recommendations addressed to Network Rail concern the competency framework for Mobile Operations Managers as well as management arrangements for operational response staff, at both local and national level. The fourth is addressed to South Western Railway and is aimed at ensuring that safety-related announcements at stations are made in a timely manner. Learning points highlight the importance of processes associated with safe systems of work and safety-critical communications, as well as addressing the observation that voice communications were not recorded owing to a fault with equipment at the signal box.
