The Railway Technical Research Institute of Japan (RTRI) announced on October 25, 2007, that it developed a battery-powered hybrid light rail vehicle (LRV) which would be tested on commercial lines in Sapporo, Hokkaido, beginning in November 2007.

The newly developed tram car uses power from overhead electric lines and/or on-board batteries. The hybrid LRV can run without overhead wires, helping improve the urban landscape, and can quickly charge its batteries from pantographs at stops. Anticipating a future direct link from tram ways to railway tracks, RTRI has designed a vehicle equipped with inverters to operate at different voltages (1,500 volts and 600 volts DC) and with a maximum speed of 70 km per hour on railway tracks.

The test runs will be carried out until mid-March in 2008 using two types of hybrid LRV; the RTRI tram and another vehicle released by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., on November 19, 2007. The city government will examine the test results in order to select the optimal tram car for the city's future transportation service.

http://www.rtri.or.jp/index.html
- World's First Battery Tram Needs No Overhead Lines (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/439-e
- Hybrid Tram with On-board Batteries Successfully Tested (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/962-e
- Kawasaki Heavy Industries to Test Battery-Powered Tram (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/1474-e

Posted: 2008/03/03 09:15:08 AM

TAG Energy , Local government , Transportation , University/Research institute