Vivarail News

Vivarail welcomes the recent announcements regarding new technologies for rail, and the growing understanding that battery trains will be a key part of the decarbonisation agenda. Battery trains have been much misunderstood until now – the assumption has been that...

(photo taken before lockdown) Vivarail Limited, designers and manufacturers of emission-free battery trains, has secured a £1.5m loan from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund Debt Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners. The Stratford-Upon-Avon firm will use the...

This photo shows the first two completed Wales and Borders trains outside together for the first time. 230006 has been undergoing extensive testing on the Cotswold line to ensure all the systems are working - and working together! There have needed to be software...

As part of its testing before it goes into service 230006 has been accumulating miles on the Cotswold Line. Today was the first day Adrian Shooter rode on the train - the UK's first battery hybrid being built for Transport for Wales to operate the Borderlands...

The UK's first battery hybrid has been out of the mainline for testing and mileage accumulation for weeks now. It has successfully completed hundreds of miles running on the Cotswold line most days. This photo taken at Honeybourne comes courtesy of Peter Tandy...

Vivarail’s Class 230 battery train has achieved a UK first by travelling 40 miles on battery power alone.  In testing runs through the autumn the train reliably ran this distance many times. The Class 230 battery train is fully approved and ready for passenger...

Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris will visit Brading Station today as the Department for Transport principally funds South Western Railway’s proposals to improve the sustainability of the railway linking Ryde to Shanklin. This follows a multimillion investment...

Vivarail, pioneers of emission-free trains, today ran the UK’s first ever passenger-carrying diesel/battery hybrid train on the national network. This huge achievement means that Vivarail has set a new standard for clean, green rail travel - and delivered another...

We are so proud and delighted to have won the Environment award for our Class 230 battery train and fast charge system.  The awards are one of the industry's top events and to be recognised by our peers for the work we've done is really heartening. As a company we...

Vivarail, designers and manufacturers of the Class 230 trains, and hydrogen fuel cell specialists Arcola Energy today announced a long-term collaboration. The companies share a determination to help de-carbonise the UK’s transport system.  Vivarail has already...

Our very first train has successfully started serving the passengers on the Marston Vale line - running the 0516 this morning. The full statement from West Midlands Trains is below:   View in a web browser West Midlands Trains First Class 230 begins passenger...

  Emission-free trains today ... Battery trains are nothing new - the first one came into service over 100 years ago! But making them suitable for today's demanding railways has been a major challenge - until now. A 60 mile range and patented fast charge systems...

The trains are part of the £5 billion investment being made by Transport for Wales across Wales and the Borders and are expected to go into service first, in North Wales, during 2019. With fully accessible toilets, power sockets, electronic passenger information,...

Vivarail today announced it had successfully demonstrated the capabilities of its patented fast charge system to the Department for Transport and InnovateUK. The demonstration marked the conclusion of a 12 month project supported by a grant from the Accelerating...

The first fleet - admittedly small but nonetheless - has been safely delivered to London Northwestern Railway for service on the Marston Vale line.  Units 230003, 004 and 005 are now all at the Bletchley depot and watch this space for news on their move into passenger...

Unit 230005 today left Long Marston to start its new life on the Marston Vale line.  As with 003 and 004 it travelled via Oxford where we got a few nice images - and looking forward to getting some good ones of all 3 of them at Bletchley depot shortly.