Publicly-owned train operator London North Eastern Railway has revealed the latest landmark in its work with clean energy infrastructure experts Treeva to pioneer a system for capturing energy from turbulent airflow adjacent to the railway.
The two organisations have begun the process of testing the concept by installing three wind turbines alongside the East Coast Main Line at Hitachi Rail’s Craigentinny depot. LNER staff have named the turbines Sir Spins‑a‑Lot, AC Breezy, and Windiana Jones.
The turbines, which have now been installed safely and successfully, stand at a height of about six feet. They were manufactured using upcycled materials and are the first turbines of this type to be installed and operated next to a main line railway in the United Kingdom. They will stay in place for at least six months.
The design of the turbines allows them to be easily used on land alongside railway tracks, without requiring a connection to the national grid. As trains travel past, they disturb the air, which turns the turbines and captures energy.
Engineers will measure and study the turbines’ energy capture, which will help them to develop plans for extending the use of this technology across the country’s railway network.
It is estimated that each turbine will be able to generate enough energy to power a third of a small station’s lighting needs, four CCTV cameras, or two passenger information screens. Five of the turbines can reduce emissions of more than 12,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide each year, which is the equivalent of planting five hundred trees.
Treeva is a British company which developed through the Future Labs innovation programme, which brings train operators into contact with technology start‑ups in order to share ideas and expertise.
After reaching the programme’s final stage, Treeva and LNER won the People’s Choice Award, and since then have continued working together to further develop the technology.
“This is a really exciting next step in the project. Developing new ideas and solutions in any industry is always a challenge, but thanks to a strong partnership between Treeva, Hitachi, Network Rail, and LNER, we’ve delivered a successful and safe installation at Craigentinny. We’re looking forward to seeing how the turbines perform over the next six months. The data collected will shape the next stages of the project, supporting LNER and the other DFTO train companies to become zero‑carbon operators, making rail an even greener choice for travel.”
Mark Haymer, Innovation Product Owner at LNER
Responses
Albert Einstein said ”A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”! Or ”Failure is success in progress”! But do we kid ourselves that todays man or women is any more innovative than yesteryear? One day every river estuary in the land will have turbine’s! Four assured seasons a day with no sun or wind!
Hope it works and then rolled out nationwide. It would be useful on the WCML given the speed of passing express and intermodal trains
No. These things are powered by the train. They will increase the air resistance that the train experiences, so all the power that comes out of the device has to go into the train first – and more because there are always losses.
It’s well known that a train going through a tunnel uses more fuel than one in the open air, because of the restriction in the air flow. These things are similar – a much smaller restriction than a tunnel, sure, so less extra energy needed. But the energy comes from the train. If it’s a diesel engine, then the ‘green’ energy is diesel powered.
a fan next to a track does not provide the same level of air resistance as a flipping tunnel you egg
But it will make the train use more power than the turbines are producing. It’s simple physics.
Tunnels also create drag, why add more with trackside turbines.
Of course it doesn’t. But it does provide more air resistance than the energy that comes out if it. You ice cream cone.
This was my first thought on reading the headline the article does nothing to persuade me otherwise. It is a shame that this obvious point is not addressed as there phenomena going that I haven’t encountered before or all involved parties are idiots