Episode description

Electrification and battery technology are never far from discussions about decarbonisation of the railway. There are a number of solutions, including discontinuous electrification and battery-hybrid technology. We visited Salisbury Traincare Depot, home to South Western Railway’s Class 159 fleet. Richard speaks to Neil Drury, Engineering & Infrastructure Director for SWR about how the operator is thinking about the electrification challenge on its network. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (01:21) How is the work on the Isle of Wight’s Island Line going? (02:35) Weather challenges at Honiton Tunnel and elsewhere (04:10) Vegetation encroachment onto the railway (05:34) Future for the West of England Line (08:21) More third rail? (11:38) Is the plan for West of England similar to GWR’s Greenford Branch plans? (13:30) Is it feasible to retrofit current rolling stock? (17:07) How about retrofitting Electric Multiple Units instead of buying new trains? (18:38) SWR could be one of the first operations to be nationalised next year… (20:28) What customers feel and will see (22:12) Introduction of Arterio trains

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