Accumulator railcar

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Modern battery-powered multiple unit from ÖBB (Cityjet Eco at Spielfeld-Straß )
Historic train of the class 517 (ETA 176) of the Deutsche Bundesbahn

A Akkumulatortriebwagen also Battery Electric Multiple Unit (AT), electric railcars with accumulators (ETA), memory railcar or battery railcar mentioned, is an electrically powered railway - or tram - railcar , its drive energy from accumulators comes, the electric motors driving.

In addition to battery- powered railcars , there are also battery-powered locomotives that are used , for example, as service vehicles on subways , in mining and on works trains.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of the accumulator railcars is cleaner and quieter operation as well as better acceleration or gradeability, without the railway line itself having to be continuously equipped with an overhead contact line or conductor rail .

The disadvantage is the mass of the accumulators - which increases the vehicle weight, requires a more stable car body and comes at the expense of additional passenger seats - as well as the limited mileage per battery charge of between 300 and 600 kilometers. This restricts the vehicle schedule accordingly, especially since the loading times also have to be incorporated into the timetable. In addition, accumulator railcars have a higher new price and maintenance costs than diesel railcars and require, at least if sporadic charging under overhead lines is not possible, a network of charging stations along the routes traveled.

On the other hand, battery-powered multiple units are significantly more economical than any fuel cell trains. A study by the VDE published in 2020 came to the conclusion that battery-powered trains are both much cheaper to buy and operate than comparable fuel cell trains. According to this, fuel cells incur up to 35% higher costs for acquisition, operation and maintenance than battery-electric trains.

Germany

Wittfeld accumulator railcar
A loner before 1945 was the Zschornewitz Kleinbahn accumulator railcar
Accumulator railcar with control car of the Alsternordbahn

The pioneers in the development and use of accumulator railcars for regular gauge operation in Germany were the Palatinate Railways , which already in 1895 undertook test drives with vehicles made up of two-axle passenger cars. Previously there had already been successful attempts on the narrow-gauge line from Ludwigshafen to Mundenheim . The success of the Palatinate Railways then prompted both the Royal Bavarian State Railways (1901 the Bavarian MCi ) and the neighboring Prussian-Hessian State Railways (1907 the Prussian A1 ) to also put such vehicles into operation. Better known were the Wittfeld accumulator railcars of the Prussian-Hessian State Railways, which were built in larger numbers and variants from 1907 and were used in many Prussian railway departments. These vehicles were all taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920 and not retired until 1950.

From 1926, the Deutsche Reichsbahn put the "Sechsachsigen Speicher- Doppelbahnen " with the designation DR 581/582 to 615/616 into service, which were used until 1968 after the Second World War.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the development with the splitter type ETA 176 (later series 517) was continued in the area of ​​the state railway. Eight railcars of this type were built between 1952 and 1954. Another new development took place at Maschinenbau Kiel AG , which in 1953 delivered a small series of three accumulator railcars and two control cars for the Alsternordbahn .

From 1955, the large series ETA 150 followed , later the series 515. The last of the total of 232 vehicles were painted and modernized until 1995, on the then Nokia train (RB 46) from Gelsenkirchen main train station via Wanne-Eickel main train station used to Bochum main station .

Accumulator railcars were also used as a railway service vehicle, especially for tunnel investigations, where an emission-free drive was particularly important. One example of this is the Kar 6209 tunnel inspection vehicle .

In 2018, Bombardier presented a battery-powered railcar based on the Talent 3 for partially electrified routes. Like conventional electric multiple units, this has a pantograph for travel under contact wire; on non-electrified sections, it draws its energy from the on-board batteries. When driving again on electrified route sections, the batteries are recharged via the overhead line. Initially, the train will have a battery range of 40 km, which will later be increased to 100 km. For 2019, Bombardier, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn (DB), has announced that the 40-kilometer prototype will be operated for 12 months with passengers in southwest Germany, near Lake Constance .

Also Stadler presented in 2018 a storage version of flirting before. In June 2019, the Schleswig-Holstein local transport association ordered 55 units that will replace diesel trains from 2022.

In September 2019, the state of Baden-Württemberg ordered 20 battery-powered railcars from Siemens , which are to be used in Ortenau from 2023 .

Switzerland

Accumulator railcar BDa 2/2 5 of the Meiringen-Innertkirchen-Bahn

In Switzerland, the meter-gauge Meiringen-Innertkirchen-Bahn (MIB), an industrial line operated by the Oberhasli power plants in the Bernese Oberland , used a total of three accumulator railcars from 1931, all of which are still there. The railcar Ba 2/2 3 (1931) is, designated as T 46, in the museum of the German Railway Association (DEV) in Bruchhausen-Vilsen , the railcar BDa 2/2 4 (1939) in the Verkehrshaus Luzern and the BDa 2 / 2 5 (1949) in front of the management building of the Oberhasli power plants in Innertkirchen .

Austria

In Austria, the plan was to convert three narrow-gauge electric multiple units of the Mariazellerbahn ( 4090 series ) into accumulator multiple units and use them on the Waidhofen city railway . Since the Lower Austrian provincial government refused the project, the vehicles were sold to the SLB in Salzburg in 2015 .

ÖBB Cityjet Eco

ÖBB Cityjet Eco in Traiskirchen

In cooperation with Siemens , the battery train prototype based on the Siemens Desiro ML was developed as part of the "Update Fleet Strategy 2035" of ÖBB Holding AG . The multiple unit, which is loaded under the overhead contact line, is called Cityjet Eco by the ÖBB (wrapping of the set in lower case: cityjet eco).

The first converted three-part set 4746 049 can be fed with 15 or 25 kV AC by overhead line via (a) pantograph, but it can also run autonomously in places using three batteries (total capacity 528 kWh) on the roof of the middle section. When powered by a catenary, this set accelerates typically at 1.0 m / s 2 and drives up to 140 km / h, with battery operation the values ​​are 0.77 m / s 2 or 100 km / h. The set has a total of 2600 kW installed in 4 or 8 motors, has 240 seats, about a third of which is only 600 mm high, 6 entrances on each side, 2 of which with push steps for wheelchairs, a universal toilet and several multi-purpose -Parking areas also for taking bicycles.

A test drive for the first time with mayors took place between Hadersdorf am Kamp and Sigmundsherberg. At the Franz-Josefs-Bahn-Fest on August 24, 2019, the public could get up close and personal with the train. Trial operation with passenger use began on September 2, 2019 in Lower Austria on the Kamptalbahn, the Traisentalbahn and the Erlauftalbahn.

In November and December 2019, ÖBB used it on routes in Upper Austria and Styria; from January 13, 2020, the set will run for two months on a trial basis on the Triestingtalbahn, Gutensteinerbahn, Aspangbahn and Innerer Aspangbahn in the Wiener Neustadt area.

United Kingdom

At British Rail , an experimental two-car multiple unit British Rail BEMU (BEMU stands for Battery Electric Multiple Unit ) was in operation from 1958 to 1962 . This one-off, consisting of a railcar and a control car , was equipped with two electric motors and 216 lead batteries instead of the diesel engines of the standard British Rail Derby Lightweight series . The 100 kW motors came from Siemens-Schuckert . The total weight of the unit was 70 tons, of which the batteries accounted for 17 tons. Railcar 30368 had 52 2nd class seats, control car 30369 53 of the second and twelve of the 1st class. The train ran on the Aberdeen – Ballater line , where it shared traffic with a classic DMU . It was later used for testing purposes at the Railway Technical Center in Derby. In the 1980s he came to the East Lancashire Railway Museum , where he was briefly used again. Today it is owned by the Royal Deeside Railway in Milton of Crathes, Scotland, on its original route, which was closed in 1966. There, after the accumulators have been removed, it will be used as a locomotive-pulled passenger train.

The ten "Boat Train" baggage rail car trains of the British Rail Class 419 (years of construction 1951–1961) were built for the connections from London Victoria Station to Dover and Folkestone . They had an additional battery supply on board for the arrival and departure on the quay tracks, which were not equipped with power rails. They were withdrawn from the regular service in 1991 and used as battery locomotives for a few years, currently all of them are stored in various museum depots.

In 2014, Network Rail had British Rail Class 379 vehicles tested, which were equipped with batteries. The trial was successfully completed in 2016. The modern accumulator multiple units have been in regular operation in Great Britain since 2017. By 2019, Class 379 will be replaced by a brand new fleet of Class 745 Stadler FLIRT EMUs, which are 12-car trains for Stansted Express services, and Class 720 Aventra EMUs for Cambridge services.

United States

The Edison Beach Akkumulatortriebwagen ( Edison Beach battery rail car ) were purchased from Thomas Edison developed and Ralph H. Beach, the latter as head of the company Railway Storage Battery Car Company and the Electric Car & Locomotive Corp . Such a railcar was used on the Alaska Railroad as No. 105. One of the special features of the Edison Beach accumulator railcars is the Beach drive system with loose wheel sets in which the wheels are individually driven by a traction motor via a gearbox.

France

Paris accumulator tram at a fast charging station

From 1881 onwards, trams operated with accumulators in Paris .

Super capacitor

In battery-electric locomotives, accumulators are sometimes installed, which require recharging after 300 to 600 kilometers. In the case of trams, on the other hand, there are regular stops at stops where a quick quick charge is possible. For this purpose, supercapacitors are used, which can be charged much faster than batteries, but only have an energy density of 10% compared to a rechargeable battery and are therefore relatively heavy. Nevertheless, an overhead line can be dispensed with for the route between the stops.

In addition to dispensing with a continuous overhead contact line, supercaps are also used for energy recovery in regenerative braking . The braking energy is not fed back into the overhead line, but into the vehicle's own supercapacitors, whose energy can be used the next time the vehicle starts up. Strictly speaking, these vehicles are not classed as accumulator railcars, as they use an external power supply in normal operation - however, these small supercaps installed on the vehicle can also be used to be able to move the tram car in the event of a power failure, for example to clear an intersection .

Acumulador de Carga Rápida from CAF has been in use on the Seville tramway (Spain) since 2011 . Sitras HES from Siemens was ordered for the Doha tram (Qatar), a tram was delivered in August 2015 and the system is scheduled to go into operation in 2016 [obsolete] . There is also a test track in normal operation for the Siemens system on the Almada section to Seixal , Portugal.

See also

Web links

Commons : accumulator railcars  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Zeppelin, cigar, acid bucket in: Lok Magazin , May 2007, pp. 32–49

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hydrogen trains more expensive than battery trains? . In: Renewable Energies. Das Magazin , July 27, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. ↑ Bombardier invests in battery trains for the German market . In: Wirtschaftswoche , September 12, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  3. ^ Steve Dent: Bombardier revives the battery-powered train. In: https://www.engadget.com/ . July 9, 2018, accessed July 29, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Sebastian Schaal: Schleswig-Holstein orders 55 cordless trains from Stadler. In: electrive.net. June 21, 2019, accessed June 21, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Battery-electrified trains in the Ortenau NETZ in the future. Retrieved September 18, 2019 .
  6. ^ The locomotives of the Meiringen - Innertkirchen Railway. Retrieved September 28, 2014 .
  7. ↑ The "flying" railcar 4090 003 , accessed on May 23, 2016
  8. ↑ 1.31 p.m., April 12, 2019: Cityjet Eco: ÖBB: Premiere for battery-powered trains from Siemens. April 12, 2019, accessed June 21, 2019 .
  9. ↑ ÖBB Cityjet Eco: The first certified battery-powered train in Europe / The first certified battery-powered train in Europe (as of November 2019, Prod. No. 113019-1925). ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG, accessed on January 13, 2020 .
  10. ↑ "Prototype ÖBB Cityjet eco celebrates its premiere in passenger operation" blog.oebb.at, accessed on September 2, 2019.
  11. ↑ Traffic: New test routes for battery trains orf.at, January 13, 2020, accessed January 13, 2020.
  12. ↑ BEMU - back to the future at unseensteam.co.uk, accessed on May 16, 2016
  13. ↑ Max Yang: UK: Battery powered rail cars in the test. In: zughalt.de. August 21, 2014, accessed June 4, 2019 .
  14. ↑ On-track trials of prototype battery-powered train begin. (No longer available online.) Network Rail , August 2014, archived from the original on September 16, 2014 ; accessed on June 4, 2019 .
  15. ↑ James Ambrose: Independently Powered EMU (IPEMU): Battery powered trains. In: SPARK The Rail Knowledge Hub. February 9, 2018, accessed June 4, 2019 .
  16. ↑ First new Stansted Express trainset delivered. In: Railway Gazette. February 28, 2019, accessed June 4, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Konstantin Planinski: (UK) Inside Abellio's new Aventra trains - class 720. In: ERC Color News. October 15, 2018, accessed June 4, 2019 .
  18. ^ Railway Car Builders of North America. Retrieved May 5, 2013 .
  19. ↑ Alaska Railroad Photographs. Retrieved on May 5, 2013 (English, notice that such a vehicle existed).
  20. ^ Illingworth, T .: Battery Traction on Tramways and Railways . Oakwood Press, 1961, pp. 15-16 .
  21. ↑ Doha tram feels the heat . Railway Gazette. 17th March 2015.
  22. ↑ First trams for Qatar Foundation arrive in Doha . The Peninsula Qatar. August 31, 2015.