GWR Class 230 Information, Movements & Discussion.

[Peter Sarf]

The ridiculous Sagas of the class 319-769, class 701s et al are costing the railways £millions, at taxpayers expense in a cost of living crisis.

GWR have been very creative to improve railway services using 2nd hand trains to grow the railway, ASLEF should reward them for that.

How on earth can trains that have been in service since the 1980's suddenly required 'approval' to be used?

My bold - well the 230 cabs have undergone more changes than the 458s. Bear in mind the 230s are based on a train that did not have mainline standard crash-worthy-ness BUT they have been strengthened and tested.

It is not just the money wasted but it is also the dire credibility the UK railways now have, particularly amongst decision makers but also among the voters. Meanwhile I see this 230 battery version as a project quietly plodding along and will eventually produce results.

 

[Northerngirl]

How on earth can trains that have been in service since the 1980's suddenly required 'approval' to be used?

Because a union manager can get a good wage out of gwr by creating a new form saying the same as the one from 80s

 

[reddragon]

My bold - well the 230 cabs have undergone more changes than the 458s. Bear in mind the 230s are based on a train that did not have mainline standard crash-worthy-ness BUT they have been strengthened and tested.

For the better I might add!

 

[45669]

Another video that I found on YouTube:

 

[Peter Sarf]

For the better I might add!

Yes indeed.

Another video that I found on YouTube:

That is good for promoting the 230. Thanks for posting.

 

[D365]

I'm not so sure about that. Discussions have begun regarding training duration etc. with no major disagreements so far, and the feedback from driver reps who have been on the unit has generally been quite positive.

Have you got this in writing?

 

[norbitonflyer]

Another video that I found on YouTube:

Bit of an exaggeration to call it "Britain's first battery powered commuter train"

 

[H&I]

Today is officially the first day of the trial, yet I do not see any ECS movements on the Greenford branch on Realtime Trains.

 

[SynthD]

What do these screens tell us? Photo of a rail employee sitting in front of several screens of information on a 230 at West Ealing from https://x.com/jackboskett/status/1768686491910148225

 

[TurboMan]

View attachment 154451
What do these screens tell us? Photo of a rail employee sitting in front of several screens of information on a 230 at West Ealing from https://x.com/jackboskett/status/1768686491910148225

It's the remote condition monitoring which shows state of battery charge and a number of other parameters relating to the train and lineside charging equipment.

 

[Speed43125]

I presume DMA BR1, DMA BR2 etc are the battery units in the 'A' unit Driving Motor. Likewise for DMB. Its interesting the state of charge is so varied across the battery modules though.

 

[TurboMan]

Today is officially the first day of the trial, yet I do not see any ECS movements on the Greenford branch on Realtime Trains.

There's no fixed timetable to which the trial must adhere rigidly - things can change on a daily/weekly basis depending on what is required. The unit is going back to Reading tomorrow for some internal work and on the DOO equipment.

I presume DMA BR1, DMA BR2 etc are the battery units in the 'A' unit Driving Motor. Likewise for DMB. Its interesting the state of charge is so varied across the battery modules though.

Yes, there are three battery packs per DM vehicle, but only two are in use at any one time: battery pack 1 and one of 2 or 3. Once 2 or 3 is depleted, the system switches to whichever of 2 or 3 wasn't in use initially. But it's the average state of charge that counts (66.8% in this image).

 

[norbitonflyer]

https://x.com/jackboskett/status/1768686491910148225

But were those pictures taken today?

 

[TurboMan]

But were those pictures taken today?

No. There was a media event at West Ealing last Friday.

 

[Speed43125]

There's no fixed timetable to which the trial must adhere rigidly - things can change on a daily/weekly basis depending on what is required. The unit is going back to Reading tomorrow for some internal work and on the DOO equipment.


Yes, there are three battery packs per DM vehicle, but only two are in use at any one time: battery pack 1 and one of 2 or 3. Once 2 or 3 is depleted, the system switches to whichever of 2 or 3 wasn't in use initially. But it's the average state of charge that counts (66.8% in this image).

Ahh that's very interesting, thanks for sharing that. Is it for thermal management of the batteries or is just simply for 'redundancy' so to speak?

 

[TurboMan]

Ahh that's very interesting, thanks for sharing that. Is it for thermal management of the batteries or is just simply for 'redundancy' so to speak?

It's largely because the traction control unit on the train can't actually handle all the power coming from all three battery packs at once, so it's been limited to 2 batteries at once per DM.

 

[Fletcj10]

Will the battery electric trial train be running on Saturdays? Or is the electric trial a weekday thing with a turbo running weekends?

 

[JN114]

Will the battery electric trial train be running on Saturdays? Or is the electric trial a weekday thing with a turbo running weekends?

At the moment it is not in public service - all passenger trains will remain Turbo worked; likely for the majority of this year.

The battery train will continue its trial work in non-passenger service; as and when the trials need to take place.

That hasn’t been on Saturdays so far, but maybe in future.

 

[THC]

I'm at West Ealing so took the opportunity to photograph the new charging equipment now in place.

THC

 

[45669]

Another YouTube video, this time from Jago Hazzard:

 

[Fletcj10]

At the moment it is not in public service - all passenger trains will remain Turbo worked; likely for the majority of this year.

The battery train will continue its trial work in non-passenger service; as and when the trials need to take place.

That hasn’t been on Saturdays so far, but maybe in future.

Oh right thanks! I must of got the wrong end of the stick lol haha thanks journey saved.

 

[wickham]

The West Ealing-Greenford trials do not appear to be booked up to run at the moment (can't see anything on RTT anyway) is it known when they are likely to start again - I beleive the unit went back to Reading Depot for some mods (mentioned up-thread).

 

[jamieh27]

Another YouTube video, this time from Jago Hazzard:

Very interesting content, I agree that the 230 on the Greenford branch is an interesting concept there are some pros and cons about battery trains as is with other types of units such as DC, AC and Diesel. But a potential gateway to decarbonising the Western Railway by 2040. If trails are successful they can be rolled out to the Thames Valley Branch lines which I think some are shorter than others.

 

[TurboMan]

The West Ealing-Greenford trials do not appear to be booked up to run at the moment (can't see anything on RTT anyway) is it known when they are likely to start again - I beleive the unit went back to Reading Depot for some mods (mentioned up-thread).

There is still some testing on the fast charge lineside battery banks that the DNO (electricity company) need to do, but this has been delayed. This means that the power to the lineside battery banks can't be left on permanently at present. So the programme has been amended with some activities (internal finishing, work on the DOO system etc.) brought forward. The unit is still at Reading TCD and will probably head back to West Ealing w/c 22nd for a week of testing activities on the Greenford branch, then back to Reading, possibly until the issue with the electricity supply is sorted. It's all very flexible though, with the programme being adjusted as necessary in response to external factors.

 

[aem7ac]

Any updates? Haven't heard of 230001 returning from Reading TCD since it left the Greenford Branch temporarily nearly a month ago.

 

[Woods]

Any updates? Haven't heard of 230001 returning from Reading TCD since it left the Greenford Branch temporarily nearly a month ago.

It was back at West Ealing last week (week commencing 22nd April) checking position of relocated charge rails, but now it's gone back to Reading for another month or so. Awaiting now the recommencement of being able to use the fast charging kit, which is awaiting an inspection from the grid provider, due to take place in early June.