Diesel consumption for an entire trainline

Hi all,

I'm a university student doing a project for involving diesel trains and need a rough indiation of how much diesel per year to run all the trains on a line.

The lines I am specifically interested in are the North Wales Coast Line, Cambrian Line (both run by Arriva Wales) and the Birmingham-Liverpool Line, Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury Line (both run by London Midland)

I've tried asking both operators but appear to have been forgotten about.

Figures for other similar lines running DMUs would also be appreciated as I don't require a high level of accuracy and can adapt information to make it relevant to my needs.

Thanks in advance.

Well, for a start (Though not particularly helpful to your principal request, for which I apologise) the Birmingham to Liverpool corridor is operated by a half hourly frequency of electric trains, so the diesel consumption for that route will be nil in normal circumstances.

I think that unit diagrams and the mileages that they operate (Which would be essential to this sort of request) are often closely guarded by the train operating companies, so you might have some difficulty obtaining the information that you need.

sprinterguy said:

I think that unit diagrams and the mileages that they operate (Which would be essential to this sort of request) are often closely guarded by the train operating companies, so you might have some difficulty obtaining the information that you need.

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You can get an approximation, though - number of workings and distance involved can be gleaned from the timetable.

If you know what type of engine is fitted to the trains in question, Googling the manufacturer's brochures will often yield the fuel consumption for the engines, although the figures given will assume continuous running.

sprinterguy said:

Well, for a start (Though not particularly helpful to your principal request, for which I apologise) the Birmingham to Liverpool corridor is operated by a half hourly frequency of electric trains, so the diesel consumption for that route will be nil in normal circumstances.

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If you want to be pedantic the Birmingham-Liverpool corridor has plenty of diesel trains on it but not on through services which are class 350 operated e.g. Liverpool South Parkway to Lime Street gets 10 diesels per hour (counting both directions), Crewe to Acton Bridge gets 2 per hour etc.

jcollins said:

If you want to be pedantic the Birmingham-Liverpool corridor has plenty of diesel trains on it but not on through services which are class 350 operated e.g. Liverpool South Parkway to Lime Street gets 10 diesels per hour (counting both directions), Crewe to Acton Bridge gets 2 per hour etc.

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Yeah, but I don't Plus, I think that it can be reasonably construed that the OP's request is for details of the direct London Midland service between the two cities.
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Peter Mugridge said:

You can get an approximation, though - number of workings and distance involved can be gleaned from the timetable.

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That is true: In which case, does anybody have any idea of the fuel consumption of a class 170 Turbostar (For the Birmingham - Shrewsbury line), and a Class 175 or Class 158 unit for the Arriva Trains Wales routes?

I cannot remember their designations, but the 170s are fitted with a 422hp Cummins power unit, the 175s a 450hp Cummins power unit, and I believe that the Arriva Trains Wales' class 158s are fitted with 350hp Perkins power units.

sprinterguy said:

Yeah, but I don't Plus, I think that it can be reasonably construed that the OP's request is for details of the direct London Midland service between the two cities.
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That is true: In which case, does anybody have any idea of the fuel consumption of a class 170 Turbostar (For the Birmingham - Shrewsbury line), and a Class 175 or Class 158 unit for the Arriva Trains Wales routes?

I cannot remember their designations, but the 170s are fitted with a 422hp Cummins power unit, the 175s a 450hp Cummins power unit, and I believe that the Arriva Trains Wales' class 158s are fitted with 350hp Perkins power units.

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Just Google the engine types; you'll find the manufacturer's brochoures with consumption rates...

Thanks for all your assistance. From your suggestions of where to find information, and clarity on the train types used I've come up with the following figures

I've used Google Maps to measure the train lines

Consumption figures come from the Rail and road emissions model by the Strategic Rail Authority and Traction Energy Metrics by Rail Safety and Standards Board

Amount of services taken from National Rail Enquires’ listings for tomorrow


North Wales Coast Line (BHI-PWL) Approx 270km

Class 158 (2car): 0.89Kgdiesel/Km=1.19L/Km equiv. (density of diesel assumed 0.745Kg/L)
Fuel consumption/jouney: 240Kg or 321L equiv.
Journeys/day: 3
Fuel consumption/year: 263,000Kg or 351,000L equiv.

Class 158 (3car): 1.18Kgdiesel/Km=1.58L/Km equiv. (density of diesel assumed 0.745Kg/L)
Fuel consumption/jouney: 318Kg or 426L equiv.
Journeys/day: 3
Fuel consumption/year: 348,000Kg or 466,000L equiv.


Cambrian Line (BHI-HHD) Approx 270km

Class 158 (2car): 0.89Kgdiesel/Km=1.19L/Km equiv. (density of diesel assumed 0.745Kg/L)
Fuel consumption/jouney: 240Kg or 321L equiv.
Journeys/day: 5
Fuel consumption/year: 438,000Kg or 586,000L equiv.

Class 158 (3car): 1.18Kgdiesel/Km=1.58L/Km equiv. (density of diesel assumed 0.745Kg/L)
Fuel consumption/jouney: 318Kg or 426L equiv.
Journeys/day: 5
Fuel consumption/year: 580,000Kg or 777,000L equiv.


Newstreet-Shrewsbury (BHI-PWL) Approx 70km

Class 170 (2car): 0.47L/Km
Fuel consumption/jouney: 33L
Journeys/day: 34
Fuel consumption/year: 410,000L

Class 170 (3car): 0.45L/Km
Fuel consumption/jouney: 31L
Journeys/day: 34
Fuel consumption/year: 385,000L

These figures will be enough for me to go by; do they look realistic to yourselves/no obvious oversights? The one thing which would be nice to know is the amount of 2 car vs. 3 cars running as this obviously makes a big difference. Can you think of any ways of finding this out?

There is a previous topic which may be helpful.
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=70954

If you want more accurate mileage figures, use http://mileage.railmiles.org/

archiwelch said:

The one thing which would be nice to know is the amount of 2 car vs. 3 cars running as this obviously makes a big difference. Can you think of any ways of finding this out?

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ATW do not have any 3 car 158's, the only thing that is not realistic is that when a unit is in multiple for instance 2 x 2 car units it used less fuel and on the routes in question apart from Brum to Shrewsbury there is a varied length of train. You may be better off using the class 175 for the North Wales coast as it is rare that these run in multiple and they use 2 & 3 car units.

TDK said:

on the routes in question apart from Brum to Shrewsbury there is a varied length of train.

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There are also varied train lengths on the Birmingham to Shrewsbury route: London Midland services are formed of 2, 3 or 4 carriages depending on whether a 2 car, 3 car or a pair of 2 car class 170 units is diagrammed.

archiwelch said:

The one thing which would be nice to know is the amount of 2 car vs. 3 cars running as this obviously makes a big difference. Can you think of any ways of finding this out?

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3-car units account for approximately a third of the total daily weekday mileage on the Birmingham - Shrewsbury route.