please empty your brain below
Yes, I was there, as one of the QMSBT, and probably ended up in the background of some of the PWSBIEUC, and CCIOFEIUABAWUC, although not the devoted MBOTFTs, as I was there mid-morning.

I particularly liked the lenticular graphic that looks like a battery charging as the train moves past you.

Timbo | 01.02.26 - 8:18 a.m. | #

Is it VEEvarail, or VYEvarail?

Roehamster | 01.02.26 - 8:21 a.m. | #

I think your characterisation of CCIOFEIUABAWUC is a little unkind and unnecessarily harsh. Obviously I don't watch them all, but I do find the ones I watch perfectly engaging.

Chris | 01.02.26 - 8:42 a.m. | #

I've rather lost patience with this particular project. GWR have been running the train for months out of service so should know if it works well enough by now, and have already said that they're not going to use this design anywhere else so it's not the start of anything bigger. The extra impact of carrying real passengers should be quite predictable, and keeping a non-standard train just for this line longterm isn't practical. It seems to be mostly a PR exercise to show that they haven't dismissed battery trains completely.

Andrew S | 01.02.26 - 9:01 a.m. | #

Can you use your Oyster Card?

SimonP | 01.02.26 - 9:04 a.m. | #

How many km of high speed rail has been built in China whilst the UK faffs about on a niche project.

Still Anon | 01.02.26 - 9:22 a.m. | #

As it's a National Rail service within the Greater Lo0ndon area, yes you can use Oyster. West Ealing is in Zone 3, and the rest of the line in Zone 4.

Non-TfL routes charge a higher rate than TfL, so the TOCs can pay their shareholders' dividends, but a quirk of the ticketing system is that you will be charged £2.70 if travelling to or from one of the intermediate stations, but only £2 if you go end-to-end. This is, presumably, because both ends are TfL stations and the system assumes you have travelled via North Acton and Ealing Broadway, and doesn't charge the TOC surcharge.

Timbo | 01.02.26 - 9:29 a.m. | #

Many thanks for you in-depth answer. I guess with transports fares, a yes or no would not have been sufficient!

SimonP | 01.02.26 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I hope they've made a better job of the carriage rooves than than they did on the latest batch of Isle of Wight re-used tube trains.

cau1khead | 01.02.26 - 9:34 a.m. | #

This ridiculous experiment can only be regarded as a success in that it shows you how not to do it. It seems to have come from a late railway engineer, well regarded, who was determined to find a use for the D stock knowing it was structurally in good condition and had plenty of life left in it. This was not helped by DfT at the time not understanding the physics of running battery trains.

The recharging at West Ealing is more-or-less cosmetic and having started down that route they continued down it. It really isn't needed but is reassuring. GWR have run the train for 200 miles without a battery top-up. The bulk of the recharging takes place overnight in the nearby siding and is all that is needed.

This is not a sensible way forward especially if the main line is already has overhead electrification (e.g. Slough-Windsor, Maidenhead-Marlow, Twyford-Henley, Oxenholme-Windermere). The sensible thing, backed up by figures, is to electrify the terminating platform with overhead wire and continue it for a short distance sufficient to charge the train (or at least top it up) for a round trip. Generally the critical factor is the location of the first low-height bridge encountered.

Pedantic of Purley | 01.02.26 - 9:46 a.m. | #

This Quiet [Man] Sitting By [Himself] left it a few hours to let the Overenthusiastic Teenagers and Content Creators Insistent On Filming Everything do their thing and drift away. I misjudged their persistence and got plenty of them, and the Droning Pessimistic Men. Wasn't what I was hoping for at all so I'll go back in March and take a proper look.

Is this a great leap forward? Not really but they'll learn some things and prove some things about fast charging in real conditions of a station turn-around.

Tunnel Bore | 01.02.26 - 9:48 a.m. | #

As with your recent SL11 1st day account, I found it informative and entertaining, giving me a good flavour of the event without having to actually go to it.

Chris Atkins | Homepage | 01.02.26 - 9:49 a.m. | #

I'm surprised by the strongly negative comments about the Class 230.

I'm not suggesting the Class 230 is going to save all of the railway's ills, but isn't trying a new technology and showing that it works in the real world a good thing?

Jon Jones | 01.02.26 - 10:32 a.m. | #

It's not new technology though. It's very old technology. It's not even the first battery-powered train in the United Kingdom. That being said, if they can get the costs down it's a good solution for branch lines instead of the flashier hybrid Class 777s.

Chz | 01.02.26 - 10:57 a.m. | #

I was a guinea pig on this train last summer when GWR was testing passenger loading by filling the carriages with volunteers from various railway societies and elsewhere. Everyone had to be weighed in advance so that the technicians knew the total weight being carried. Afterwards they provided some promotional merchandise and a talk about future plans for the project at a hotel in Ealing.

Alan S | 01.02.26 - 11:06 a.m. | #

Obviously a great technical achievement, although I suspect there are off-the-shelf battery systems which would have been cheaper.

Alex Mckenna | 01.02.26 - 11:15 a.m. | #

I fully agree with PoPs analysis. This is an excellent example of why recycling complicated items for a different use rarely makes technical or economic sense. Engineeering out problems that could be eliminated by using new technology is not clever, its a good way of using scarce human and monetary resource on a product that ultimately has no real market either in the UK or abroad.

A great technical achievement would be something that makes electric rail travel in isolated locations attractive and affordable and creates a big demand for its manufacturer. I think this experiment fails on both counts.

Keith the Kraut | 01.02.26 - 11:36 a.m. | #

If only they'd started running on Friday, then it would have been the same launch date as the original D Stock.

Tetramesh | 01.02.26 - 12:51 p.m. | #

snap, escorting a train mad small boy.

The significant difference between this and "terminal" electrification is I think the implementation costs/timeline for the terminal station will be cheaper/faster.

It's the lineside "buffer" battery pack that makes the difference, likely can be installed with very modest local electrical grid change as the 415V three phase draw can be capped to low hundreds of amps and potentially time shifted. I would imagine a on site install timeline of 1 week is achievable, depending on local grid availability nearby and good planning, nothing "tricky" or "specialist".

(Apparently Tesla is also installing car chargers higher than 350kW in the US that also use nearby battery buffers)

MilesT | 01.02.26 - 1:04 p.m. | #

It's not unkind or harsh at all, it's a reality check on every teenager who has grown up with a phone in their hand thinking that if they say "Like and Subscribe!" a lot, then a life of riches will somehow be bestowed upon them - this is how TikTok has damaged our society.

Back in my day, it was playing football and wanting to be a Footballer, but 99% were never good enough - only a tiny small number of people grew up to be the next Ian Rush or play for Liverpool - the analogy is the same here.

Fortunately, pure meritocracy will ensure that only the talented will ulimately shine through, for which I am thankful.

Yours, a QMSBT who witnessed this all on the train yesterday.

David | 01.02.26 - 1:30 p.m. | #

What is different here is the fast-charge arrangement, which allows a battery to be charged far faster than from standard catenary or live rail. The Headbolt Lane system on Merseyside has the train on the "juice" for 40 minutes, for less than five minutes of journey time on battery power.

timbo | 01.02.26 - 3:01 p.m. | #

The Vivarail project started so long ago, that the "clever thing" they were going to do was convert Underground D stock into DMU diesel powered units, back when diesel power wasn't such a complete no no.

This was a bit of a disaster, so they then moved on to battery power.

Mikey C | 01.02.26 - 5:38 p.m. | #

I have downloaded on my computer a really good PDF published by GWR about the technical aspects of this system. Unfortunately I can no longer find it online.

The maximum charging rate of the charging rails at West Ealing is 1.8MW. The maximum electric power a Class 800 5 car Class 800 Inter City Express train can draw is 2.712MW. This suggests to me that the overhead wire could have provided significantly more power than the charging rails ever could.

Pedantic of Purley | 01.02.26 - 6:46 p.m. | #

I've always thought it would be an idea for GWR to license the Overground brand for this line. I know that's not something that TfL offers but I expect they've never been asked. This branch is basically a metro service akin to the Liberty line, it's run by a TOC that focuses on long distance and regional services out of London and this is their only line solely within London so it's never going to get exposure beyond what it currently gets. Passenger numbers are never going to increase without tube map presence, much like the lines the Overground took over. They've got frequent new (kind of) train(s) that connect two TfL lines, again like the Liberty Line, so it seems like a win win for both parties IMO. Licensing the brand rather that going through the motions of TfL trying to get the government to give it to them is certainly a significantly quicker and cheaper way of getting the line on the map.

Sean | 01.02.26 - 7:25 p.m. | #

Wouldn't this line be ideal for a Parry People Mover?

mclm | 01.02.26 - 11:55 p.m. | #

mdm, the Parry People Mover is ideal for the stourbridge branch because of the steep gradient, allowing regenerative braking - recovering energy going downhill to use going uphill. Where less braking is required there is less recoverable energy.

Sean - there's an idea there. Operatinally it makes sense to stay with GWR as they have suitable units (the weekday service is still operated by a unit from the large fleet based at Reading) and Overground do not, but there's no reason why it couldn't be marketed, branded, and charged as a TfL route. tfL already collect most of the fares (through Oyster and contactless). A similar approach could be used on many of the routes in south London, operated by SWR, Thameslink, Southern and South eastern, which run mainly, or entirely, within Greater London

I noticed, by the way, that the grab rails in the Class 230 are Elizabeth Line Purple.

timbo | 02.02.26 - 8:17 a.m. | #

Sticking up 25 kV OHLE where it isn’t already present isn’t cheap or easy or even an option.

Admittedly it might have been possible at West Ealing, but this project is/was at least in part intended as a demonstrator for many other branch lines.

Graham | 02.02.26 - 10:49 a.m. | #

What are those spiky things on West Ealing buffers ?

kev | 03.02.26 - 3:51 a.m. | #

To stop the yoofs (and not so yoofs) climbing on them. Though I don't recall seeing them anywhere else.

Graham | 03.02.26 - 11:26 a.m. | #

String up some “trolley” wire and run a standard Croydon tram!

Apuldram | 06.02.26 - 1:14 p.m. | #

DPM - "this is a complete waste of time, why don't they just fully electrify the line?"

DPM - "why are they spending so much on electrifying a little used branch line, surely that money would be better spent elsewhere?"

Phil | 08.02.26 - 1:43 a.m. | #











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