Erstmals veröffentlicht im Rail Magazine
Great Western Railway’s battery-powered Class 230 has broken the world record for the longest journey on a single charge.
The former District Line unit (230001) travelled 200 miles in the early hours of Wednesday August 20, along a route that took it from Reading-London Paddington-Oxford-London Paddington-Reading. Once the unit returned to Reading Traincare Depot, the engineering team said it still had approximately 22% of charge left.
“We got back here with one of the six batteries onboard, untouched,” explained GWR Technology Development Manager Julian Fletcher. “So, we have a lot left in the tank. I reckon we could do another 50 miles on top of the 200 we’ve already done.”
The run took place overnight so as not to disrupt passenger services on the busy Great Western Main Line. During the six-and-a-halfhour trip, it travelled at speeds of between 33mph and 38mph. That meant the journeys between Oxford and Paddington took typically around twice as long as scheduled services between the two stations.
The journey between London and Reading was slightly slower than trains on the Elizabeth line, allowing the battery-powered unit to slot in between timetabled services.
GWR Engineering Director Simon Green said setting the record had been “a little bit of fun, but it also proved the viability of battery technology as a viable power source for the rail industry in the future. “Although we’ve set a mark today of just over 200 miles, in reality we would expect that to be broken in the not-too-distant future by manufacturers demonstrating their technology in a brand-new platform,” he added.
The previous world record of 139 miles, set by Stadler Deutschland in Berlin on December 10 2021, was beaten at 0400 when the train crossed Maidenhead Bridge after 140 miles of running.
The Rail Performance Society was on board to verify the world record attempt. Vice-Chairman Nigel Smedley told the BBC: “We can confirm that, subject to final checks, the Great Western Railway Class 230 train travelled 200 miles on a return journey from Reading Traincare Depot without charging its batteries from any external energy source.”
GWR attempted the record to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.
The unit recently completed a year-long trial on the Greenford branch in west London to test fast-charge technology.
