Battery electric multiple units to replace diesel commuter trains serving short and idle routes

- Electric trains are ideal for commuter rail service with frequent stops.
- However, diesel commuter trains still operate on non-electrified railway networks.
- Due to high electrification cost, usually only heavily-used routes are electrified.
- Recently, battery technology has proven success in vehicular applications.
- Battery trains can replace diesel commuter trains and reduce fuel cost and emission.

The need for efficient and sustainable intracity transportation system has now become indispensable. Electric trains are highly preferred for commuter rail service. However, full railway electrification is often applied to heavily-used routes on which the density of traffic is sufficient to justify the high fixed costs. Currently, lithium titanate batteries have proven success powering electric buses which consume more energy per passenger kilometer than trains. In this paper, the possibility to replace diesel commuter trains serving short and idle routes with battery powered trams and hence reduce fuel cost and emission level was studied, siting a diesel commuter train in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was observed that such a replacement is indeed possible and gainful. Compared to the diesel commuter train in Tanzania which current operates at loss merely due to low fuel efficiency, the battery powered tram was found to reduce fuel cost and carbon dioxide emission by 86.67% and 64.96% respectively.