A rail freight terminal in Northamptonshire will be the first in the UK to demonstrate an overhead electrification system, which could end the need for diesel on electrified rail routes and boost the industry’s net zero ambitions.
The Decarbonisation & Electrification of Freight Terminals (DEFT) project, funded by the Department for Transport and Innovate UK, has seen project partners Furrer+Frey GB, Tarmac and GB Railfreight demonstrate a new way of decarbonising rail and lessen freight’s impact on passenger journeys.
Engineers from Furrer+Frey GB designed a Moveable Overhead Conductor system where overhead equipment supplying electricity to the locomotives can safely move away once the train is in place and return when the train needs to move again.
Furrer+Frey’s innovative system is being trialled at an aggregate facility, run by Tarmac in Wellingborough, in partnership with GB Railfreight.
The facility is adjacent to the Midland Mainline, which is currently being electrified and upgraded by Network Rail as part of the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan, to increase capacity for passengers and freight trains.
If successful, the moveable overhead system could go on to be deployed at other freight terminals across the UK and support the full decarbonisation of Britain’s railways.
Noel Dolphin, Head of UK projects at Furrer+Frey GB, said: “The electrification of freight terminals is the biggest technological hurdle to net zero rail freight and we have just overcome it. The demonstrator shows how we can plug freight yards into electrified rail lines and operate them safely and efficiently with the locomotives we already have – meaning greener, cleaner and better journeys.”
The system being trialled in Northamptonshire is based on one developed by Furrer+Frey for passenger train depots, used by Eurostar and LNER, and has been installed by SPL Powerlines.
The DEFT project is one of 30 groundbreaking initiatives that have won a share of £9 million from the Department for Transport, in partnership with Innovate UK. The competition is focused on developing pioneering technology and exceptional ideas that can improve journeys for travellers, encourage passengers back onto the network and reduce the environmental impacts of rail as the country builds back better from Covid-19.