Battery operated trams to run on Midland Metro

In a first for the UK it has been revealed that cutting edge battery technology will enable certain sections of future Midland Metro extensions to be constructed without overhead wires. Often one of the major objections received to the construction of tram lines through historic areas is the supposed unsightliness of the overhead wires and support so the development of this technology will change some of these anti-tram opinions.

The entire fleet of Urbos 3 trams running on Midland Metro will be fitted with hi-tech batteries which enable them to operate without overhead power in “architecturally sensitive” areas. It will also provide cost savings in some areas where expensive infrastructure works would be needed to allow for the addition of overhead wires.

Cllr John McNicholas, chairman of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority’s delivery committee, said: “When we placed the order in 2012 for our new fleet of trams the ITA had the vision for them being capable of running without overhead wires. The technology then was not sufficiently developed to incorporate into the Birmingham city centre extension, but provision was made within the contract that should technology catch up the new trams could be retro-fitted with batteries. That is now the case and the application of battery technology on this scale in the West Midlands will be a historic first for the UK light rail industry and the modern era of British tramways.”

Urbos 3 trams already run catenary-free in sections of the tram networks in Zaragoza, Seville and Cadiz in Spain but these use supercapacitors to provide on-board energy storage. It is considered that the steep gradients in Pinfold Street between New Street station and Victoria Square would be too much for these supercapacitors but newly available lithium ion batteries will be more robust.

Four sections of future extensions have been identified as suitable for battery operation:

* The whole of the Birmingham Centenary Square extension – including through Victoria Square – where the Town Hall and Council House are situated

* Birmingham-Edgbaston extension from Centenary Square to Brindleyplace and through the underpass at Five Ways

* Birmingham Eastside extension between Moor Street Queensway and Digbeth High Street, including under the proposed HS2 station at Curzon Street

* Wolverhampton City Centre extension between the bus station and the railway station tramstops.

The proposed extension from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill will also be evaluated to see if any sections would be suitable for catenary free operation.

It is expected that using battery operation on these four sections will gain savings of £650,000 but longer term there will be greater savings as there is now no longer any need to prepare roads or buildings for overhead lines.

The current fleet of 21 Urbos 3 trams will be retrofitted with the batteries – negotiations have begun with battery suppliers but no decision has yet been made on the manufacturer of the batteries – and a further four trams are now on order to maintain the current level of service once the Centenary Square extension opens. These latter four trams will come with batteries already installed upon delivery.

The batteries will be fitted on the tram roof and will be recharged by the overhead lines along other parts of the route. They are expected to need replacing at seven year intervals.

The cost of the batteries will be partly covered by a £31.5m contribution from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership with a further £1m from UKTram.

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13 Responses to Battery operated trams to run on Midland Metro

  1. Its certainly interesting times ahead. Technology starting to come of age. Clear their commitment particularly overseas to see this technology fully developed. Suspect hurdles will be over come and it may well play significant role on some routes on UK systems. Does feel though that competition in the development process has resulted in quite a few variants and not quite sure their clear consensus on which is the best just yet

  2. Paul says:

    i think from wednesbury – great bridge could be battery run

  3. D. A. Young says:

    How great is the spontaneous fire risk from using lithium ion batteries and how does it compare with known fire risks from cars using conventional overhead wire for their power supply?

    • Peter Watts says:

      The trams in Nice, France use the same system, and so far they have had three serious fires on board which actually resulted in the battery operation being suspended for some time until Alstom could investigate the problem. See one of my photos on Flickr at the following link:

      https://www.flickr.com/photos/47119222@N02/12381659244/in/dateposted-public/

      That having been said, 3 cases out of many thousand battery operated journies on this systme is a very small percentage indeed, and since the last fire in 2014, no further problems have been reported and the Nice fleet is running through the battery sections “nicely”!

      • tom says:

        This does make me feel uneasy! We work with Li-ion batteries and they are certainly volatile things. Only a small amount of damaged and they go bang! Any failure in the overcharge protection and they go bang!

        I wouldn’t want to be sat over the battery bank should they be a collision!!!

  4. Nigel Pennick says:

    Let’s hope that there are not some obscure British regulations that someone will discover and implement to prevent battery operation on these new sections of line. It often seems that new ideas are overwhelmed by red tape immediately they become viable,.

  5. Franklyn says:

    I don’t see how batter operated trams work out cheaper than overhead in the long term. Firstly there are obvious losses between the power being generated and getting it into the storage cells, so the tram will in effect use more power. Second there is the weight penalty of dragging the additional batteries around on the overhead equipped sections. Finally, there is the actual cost of the batteries themselves. Anyone who has dealings with any kind of electric vehicle will know the batteries don’t last forever.

    Finally, as has already been pointed out, there is the fire risk. Think of the number of mobile phones we hear about that spontaneously combust thanks to faulty lithium ion batteries.

  6. Kev says:

    I must admit I do wonder ‘why’ ??

    • roger woodhead says:

      Kev I agree with your comment I was just floating an idea. Here’s another one and probably the cheapest fit them with a small diesel engine (never mind the fumes we won’t have any wires).

  7. roger woodhead says:

    Could they not use a conduit system as old LT used. Conduits were also used in the USA so as not to hang wires from historical buildings eg Washington DC.

  8. Tony Sullivan says:

    In Nordhausen, Germany a small metre gauge system has 4 short Siemens Combino units which are fitted with diesel engines to work over the Harz Mountain railway to one of the small communities outside the town.

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