With the Baxter Electrification preliminary business case now out, it's clear that the Victorian State Government might not go through with the plan as the Government report made it clear, that better options are available to support the Mornington Peninsula area as electrification is costly.
My purpose of this article is to not focus on 20min services on the proposed electrification of the Baxter Line but rather propose a solution to allow 30min services on Stony Point Line. This is only one aspect of the problem and I do acknowledge that more is needed to better cater for Mornington Peninsula as a whole.
The current problem, Mornington Peninsula is highly impacted by low or poor public transport solutions that cannot be able to cater for everyone.
The transport options are listed as a problem that leads to high car dependency and shows the limitations of the existing setup. Some solutions include Metro ‘styled’ services, Bus Rapid Transit, a bus network and possibly the potential for private ferry operations (cough cough, it's a good idea to run ferries from Victoria Dock (Melbourne) to Mornington and Rosebud.)
The problem had been neglected by various governments over the years with the only real development is the Mornington Peninsula Freeway, which just encourages more cars on the roads.
As seen in Figure 2 (sourced from the Department of Transport Victoria’s business case), it's been identified that Somerville, Tyabb, Hastings, Rosebud and Dromana are high impact where public transport has been clearly inefficient.
The cost is out-blown by electrification, station upgrades and level crossing removal to make the line comply to Metro standards. The Stony Point Line is arguably one of the lines that need an urgent upgrade as more and more residents shift over to using the private modes of transport rather than public transport as public transport is clearly not a viable option for many at this moment of time. I’m sorry to be pessimistic but it's true.
It is kinda interesting how we had been focused on full-scale electrification when we could have bi or tri-modal battery trains that can be able to use 1.5kv DC voltage and this can be achieved by using old rollingstock like the soon to be retired ‘Sprinter’ trainsets by 2027. But first, let me explain the Class 230 project.
In the United Kingdom, Class 230 has been proven trainsets that can work under diesel or even battery power.
VIVARAIL has been making these trainsets by re-using ex-D Stock tube train carriages, with the bare shell being the only thing really retained. New traction units, new interior and cabin fit out whilst making the train up to scratch in modern UK rail safety standards, all done by ‘upcycling’ the train-set.
This product has been ordered by London Midland (now London NorthWestern Railway) and Transport for Wales. Both companies have units running in revenue service.
“These trains are unrecognisable from their former life on the London Underground and Vivarail have created a modern and comfortable train, ideal for this route,” says LNR customer experience director, Mr Jonny Wiseman.
It comes to prove, upcycling trains can work if the TOC can see a purpose for them being used on branch lines. The trainsets can achieve the operational cost of an existing trainset that's running on the network. Most customers won’t know that the train had been rebuilt from scratch or used to serve a different purpose.
So why battery power? Its a technology currently being adopted by Canberra Light Rail, Newcastle Light Rail and Parramatta Light Rail networks respectively. This technology works and is proven, but however, the trams are using supercapacitors instead of batteries and need to be recharged at every stop.
Even rail companies like Hitachi, Alstom-Bombardier and Siemens are adapting the technology through heavy research and development to establish the future of locomotives and trainsets.
As an alternative to full electrification, the cost is mainly involved with the conversion of the trainsets, installation of associated infrastructure to allow battery-powered trains to operate and passing loops to increase frequency.
“What is more, battery trains can be implemented in a relatively quick and affordable way. “
VIVARAIL in the UK had to conduct trials of battery-powered Class 230 and this has achieved 40miles of range (for us metric people, 63km) and only 10 mins charging time at the start of 2020, now this is 60 miles (100km) range in 2021.
Vivarail has also built and launched the UK’s first modern battery train with an impressive range of 60 miles between charges. “We believe that the battery train is the future. The change from a diesel train to a battery train reduces a huge amount of CO2. The battery trains have a range of 60 miles between the charges, which makes them fit for a lot of train connections. Our patented fast-charge system allows us to meet the service requirements of operators”, says Alice Gillman, head of Marketing at Vivarail.
‘Battery trains — a good alternative to diesel trains or electrification of railway lines’
Battery technology is a greener way to substitute for diesel services by reducing our carbon emissions. I’m sorry to say it, but the future of Regional Rail services is moving away from a diesel-based network (which we grown adapted to in Victoria) and exhibit A being the Geelong Line potentially being electrified by 2050.
Stony Point Solution
I firmly believe, with a bit of innovation and looking around. This could work for the Stony Point Line, allowing a 5x 4 car Sprinter (total of 20 carriages) to go express from Melbourne CBD, Caulfield to Frankston, before calling all stops to Stony Point and vice versa. By fully stripping out the train to the bare shell, the Sprinters can live on as the next generation leap to allow ‘one-seat service’ to Melbourne and Stony Point respectively, via the Loop too.
This can allow 30 mins train service, with the necessary upgrades to allow trains to pass each other along the Stony Point branch, ideally Baxter, Somerville and Hasting to gain back passing loops, upgrade of the signalling system etc.
Pantographs would be used for Melbourne — Frankston section, where the train is using the DC power and charging the batteries before going wireless into battery territory, where at Stony Point, it could be an ideal solution to have a charging station there, where the pantographs can draw power from the overheads to charge the train batteries for the return trip.
A quick guideline for conversion:
- Removal of the Diesel Engines, retrofitting them with the offering of Battery Powered Traction units and fitting two pantographs onto the top of the Sprinter trainsets. A possibility would also be having one of the four Sprinter units retain a diesel engine acting as backup.
- A complete strip out of the train, rebuild to modern standards with a new driver cabin to allow change over from battery to overheads DC. Making these a completely new train once complete. Extending life by 30 years.
- Making 4 Single Sprinter DMU into one trainset. Making 6 driver cabs redundant and allowing them to be removed, the possibility of walkthrough carriages with the inclusion of a gangway connection. (A total of 5x 4 car long Bi/Tri-MU units).
- An ideal formation would be DM-TMp-TMp(D)-DM. DM = Driver Motor, TMp = Trailer Motor Pantograph, TMp(D) = Trailer Motor Pantograph with Diesel Backup.
Why the Sprinter units? The body is young compared to the Comeng trainsets which are around 40 years old at the typing of this article. The Sprinter is currently averaging around 27 years old and should be able to last longer due to its carbon steel body.
As a short 30km trip one way and 60km round, this can be the ideal solution to the current dilemma of electrifying a line that isn’t worth it and boost services to a better encourage more passengers to take a train into Melbourne.
The Sprinter as a DMU, offers an unique platform to allow battery powered trains to be utilised on the Stony Point line if they were converted.
Conclusion.
To conclude this article, there’s a huge potential here to make the Stony Line meet modern standards, which requires next to no full-scale electrification that has been proposed by the Government. I firmly believe that Baxter is kinda pointless to electrify as $1.1 billion can be used to establish battery-powered trains to better more eco friendly to the environment whilst achieving better services as a whole on the Stony Point Line.