If the results are good, battery trains “could soon be on the road in regional traffic all over the country”. And there are indeed areas of application in Bavaria: Many branch lines still do not have overhead lines, and their construction is expensive and time-consuming.
It looks like a train, it drives like a train – and yet it’s a different kind of train than the one that usually steams back and forth between Gunzenhausen and Pleinfeld. Because on Saturday the first official test operation with a battery train started in Bavaria. Like diesel locomotives, these trains can also run on non-electrified routes, only with electricity and without any CO2 emissions. “A real climate protector,” said Michael Theurer (FDP), State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport. If the test operation shows good results, battery trains could “possibly soon be on the road in regional traffic all over the country”.
There are indeed enough areas of application in the Free State. Many branch lines are still without overhead lines, and their construction is expensive and time-consuming. Locomotives with fuel cells or batteries are therefore considered possible alternatives. In practice, however, empirical values are lacking. A study by the Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies estimates the range of battery trains at 80 to 120 kilometers, depending on the series. How far the juice actually reaches depends, among other things, on the topography of the route and whether the cold is draining the battery. Battery trains draw their energy from the overhead line; when this ends, it continues with battery power.
The test operation is being carried out in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn and will run until the beginning of May. The train comes from the French manufacturer Alstom. Between Pleinfeld and Gunzenhausen, however, it is only used at weekends. On weekdays, the battery train commutes between Stuttgart and Horb in Baden-Württemberg. According to Deutsche Bahn, different scenarios are to be tested in this way: In the Franconian Lake District, the battery is charged at the Pleinfeld and Gunzenhausen train stations. In Baden-Württemberg, on the other hand, the train is charged while it is running – unlike in Bavaria, there is already an overhead line over the route.