South West Trains has announced the completion of a multi-million investment programme to deliver regenerative braking across its fleet to ‘save energy and provide even greener trains’.
The £2.2m programme has involved installing equipment on more than 200 electric trains which operate on the South West Trains network.
These trains run services in the London suburban area, to Guildford, Alton, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton and Weymouth. They are all now fitted with the new energy-saving technology.
Energy produced by a train equipped with the regenerative braking system returns electricity to the third rail system, allowing trains in close proximity to draw on the electrical supply.
The technology saves 50 million kWh of electricity annually, enough to power more than 11,500 UK homes for an entire year, the train operator said.
Trains fitted with the technology include: the whole fleet of 30 Class 458 trains and the 172 Siemens Desiro trains (Classes 444 and 450).
The modifications to the Desiro trains were carried out by Siemens technicians during the nightshift and at weekends to minimise disruption to the service.
The regenerative braking project, which has been carried out in partnership with Network Rail and rolling stock providers Alstom and Siemens, is part of a major £11 million investment across Stagecoach Group as part of its sustainability strategy.
