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UK RAIL NEW CLASS 93 BOBO LOCOMOTIVE On test with a Class 93 – The UK’s smartest locomotive? PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPhojQ5mVgI
On test with a Class 93 – The UK’s smartest locomotive? Green Signals 17.2K subscribers Join Subscribe 1.4K 28,496 views Aug 5, 2025 ✪ Members first on July 30, 2025 The Rail Operations Group Class 93, built by Stadler, is busy undergoing tests on the railway – a tri-mode locomotive, capable of operating in Diesel, Battery, Diesel Hybrid and Electric modes, it’s a seriously powerful yet versatile locomotive. We were recently able to take a detailed look around the locomotive to learn about all its features and capabilities. We got exclusive access to the engine room, saw the equipment on the roof and had a detailed guided tour of the cab. But the most exciting part of our visit was an overnight test run with an 1800 tonne train from Crewe Basford Hall through Preston and the Lake District to Carlisle. Then back again to Crewe. On the journey we climbed the fabled 1:75 Shap bank and saw first hand how this most impressive locomotive, a Bo-Bo after all, handled such a heavy load with at times a pretty greasy rail. The battery proved its worth as well during shunting and hybrid operations. The trip left us very excited about the future for these new locomotives. Subscribe: If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. Better still, hit that subscribe button. It supports the channel and means you'll be notified whenever we publish something new. Membership: If you want to see even more from Green Signals, including exclusive content, become a member and support the channel further too. YouTube - / @greensignals Patreon - / greensignals Green Signals: Website - http://www.greensignals.org Shop - http://greensignals.etsy.com Newsletter - http://www.greensignals.org/#mailing-... Follow: X (Twitter) - / greensignallers LinkedIn - / green-signals-productions-ltd Instagram - / greensignallers Credits: Presenters - Nigel Harris (@railnigel on X) & Richard Bowker CBE (@SRichardBowker). General Manager: Stef Foster (@stefatrail) How this content was made Auto-dubbed Audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated. Learn more Green Signals Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess Transcript 0:00 Few locomotives have created the stir that rail operations groups class 93 has. So I've come to workop in Nottinghamshire where the 93s are based and been out on a rather special test run as well to see what the fuss is all about. [Music] For years, the West Coast mainline was the domain of high power, high-performance AC electric locomotives until they were eventually ousted by Virgin's class 390 Pendalinos and other multiple unit trains from the early naughties. But now there's a new Bobo AC electric locomotive on the block. And 1:01 what's more, not only is this one more powerful, it's not just an AC electric locomotive, it's got plenty of astonishing party tricks up its sleeves on top. At workshop, I met with Andy Grundy, head of engineering for Rail Operations Group, as well as Brian Ferguson, general manager for Rail Operations Group Assets Limited. I wanted to learn about the locomotives in detail. And so, first, Andy and I talked about the locomotive in depth, including some of those party tricks. Andy, let's just talk about the vital statistics of this loco. It's try mode. Um, although I know it has actually four modes. Um, but try mode from a power point of view. So, it's got 25 kV overhead capability. It can draw that with a panagramraph. Um, it's got a diesel engine. It's got uh a battery. What What sort of different power output are we talking from each of those? So, we've got 400 kW batteries, which 2:00 equates to just over 500 horsepower. Yeah. Um the diesel engine on its own is just over,200 horsepower or 900 kW. Um the third mode we can operate in is a hybrid mode which was which is the diesel and the batteries combined which gives you in the region of 1750 horsepower uh which is equivalent to a class 37. Uh 2:22 and then finally we've got the overhead 2:23 mode. So in normal operation that's 4 2:26 megawatt uh which is around 5,1 uh 5,300 2:30 horsepower. Um, but we do have the 2:33 option of a boost mode which we can use 2:35 up to 30 minutes a day and that gives us 2:38 4.6 megawws which is equivalent to 2:40 somewhere in the region of five uh 2:42 6,100. 2:43 Okay. And what's what's the limiting 2:45 factor? Why only why 30 minutes is your 2:47 limit? 2:48 It's just the extra stress that it puts 2:49 on the components and the and the uh in 2:51 the system in the traction system. 2:53 Okay. But handy to have it if you need 2:54 Oh, definitely. Definitely. And on the 2:56 hybrid mode when it's running on diesel 2:58 engine and the battery at the same time, 3:01 um, does it does it depend on what level 3:03 of charge you've got in the battery or 3:05 does it not? It doesn't matter. 3:06 No. No. It'll give you the same power. 3:08 As long as you've got something in the 3:10 batteries, it'll give you the same 3:11 power. 3:12 One of the accusations that has been 3:14 leveled at the Class 93 is that maybe 3:17 its battery is relatively lowowered and 3:20 is a bit of a gimmick. It's also been 3:22 suggested it drains very quickly. Andy's 3:25 response is pretty robust. 3:27 I suppose the the thing that sets this 3:29 one apart from almost anything else is 3:31 it's got a battery, right? 3:33 Mhm. 3:34 Is that is that just sort of like a a 3:37 little kind of nice to have topup sort 3:39 of thing? Or is it really fundamental 3:42 to what this loco can do and and how it 3:45 does it? 3:45 Yeah, it's fundamental. So, so in pure 3:48 battery mode, um, you've got a 3:50 completely clean locomotive for 3:52 shunting. It's it's got the ability to 3:54 shunt heavy trains in and out of yards 3:56 to to a point at which you can get onto 3:59 the overheads. But when you combine it 4:01 with the diesel engine, as I say, you've 4:04 got around 1750 horsepower. So, you've 4:06 got something equivalent to a class 37. 4:08 And it's fundamental in in in raising 4:11 the power of the diesel engine up to a 4:13 to a useful level. I get a rare 4:15 opportunity to see the roof of the 4:17 locomotive, the panagramraph for 25 kV 4:21 current collection, the top of the 4:22 battery cooling system, and the exhaust 4:25 for the engine. I asked Andy if the loco 4:28 can switch to and from overhead line 4:30 mode whilst on the move. 4:32 It can. We don't currently have 4:34 clearance to do that at this moment in 4:36 time, but yes, you do have the ability 4:38 to do it whilst you're on the move. When 4:39 the class 93s were originally delivered, 4:42 they had complex multi-height Delner 4:45 couplers, but these have now been 4:47 swapped out for much simpler traditional 4:50 couplers. Andy explains why. 4:52 So the coupler that was on was the cargo 4:54 flex coupler, which gives you, like you 4:56 say, your multi- height dela and in the 4:58 raised position, you also get a shackle, 5:00 which is very similar to a traditional 5:02 locomotive. However, what it does is it 5:05 reduces our flexibility because the the 5:07 operating geometry of the uh when we've 5:10 got the cargo flex on is much less. We 5:12 can run on um the curve radius is much 5:15 higher using a cargo flex coupler than 5:17 it is using the standard UIC which is 5:19 what you see here. Right? 5:21 So we, you know, freight operators at 5:23 the moment are looking for us to have a 5:25 standard shackle and hook. And some of 5:27 the yards that we operate in, we go down 5:28 to very very low curve radiuses. If you 5:31 wanted to refit the cargo flex, we still 5:34 have them. And if if we needed if we had 5:36 a contract that required down the 5:38 couplers, it would be a simple uh 5:40 process to refit them. 5:41 Critical for any locomotive, especially 5:43 one that is Bobbo, so four axles, and is 5:46 looking to haul freight and passenger is 5:49 tractive effort. The ability to put the 5:52 power down on the rail. I asked Andy if 5:55 there's any difference in tractive 5:57 effort depending on which mode the 5:59 locomotive is in. The starting tractive 6:01 effort of 290 kontons is available in 6:04 all four modes. It's just really the 6:07 speed that you can run at after that. So 6:09 in battery mode, if you got 1,800 tons 6:11 on, you're probably running around at 5 6:13 m an hour, which is great for shunting 6:15 in yards and that. In hybrid mode, 6:17 you've got you can go quicker. And in in 6:19 an overhead line mode, you can run up to 6:21 line speed. 6:22 But in all modes, maximum tractive 6:24 effort still available. 6:25 It is still available. Yeah. Well, 6:28 without a doubt, Andy, this is the 6:29 cleanest engine 6:31 um bay I've ever seen, and it's packed 6:34 full of stuff. 6:35 Yeah. 6:35 Give Give us an idea what we've got in 6:37 here. 6:37 And yet, you can still see from one end 6:39 to the other. 6:39 You can't right the way down. That is 6:41 That is actually very unusual, but it 6:43 is. 6:43 It is. 6:44 Um 6:45 right, what have we got? 6:46 So, uh if you look on your right, my 6:49 left, we've got these two cabinets here 6:52 contain the engine and all the engine 6:54 cooling system. 6:56 On the right hand side here, we've got 6:58 the cabinets for the batteries. So, 7:00 we've got the start batteries in there. 7:02 Uh, so they're 24 volts to start the 7:04 engine. This unusually shaped cabinet 7:07 here is the traction motor blower for 7:09 bogey 2. 7:11 If we move down slightly on your right 7:14 here, we've got the compressor 7:17 and we've got some of the valves 7:19 controlling sanders and horns for number 7:22 two end of the vehicle. And before we 7:24 leave here, actually I love this. 7:26 Everything with a place and everything 7:28 in its place. Look at this. So all the 7:30 you know chocks and presumably that's 7:33 panagramraph um 7:35 with these orange 7:35 third rail kit and all kinds. Yeah. And 7:38 then presumably spare jumpers up here. 7:41 And 7:41 so these are your ETS jumpers up here. 7:43 Yeah. This jumper here we'll go on. 7:45 We'll speak talk about that in a bit. 7:46 This is uh the multi-working cable for 7:49 between the two locomotives. 7:50 Got it. 7:53 Fantastic. Oh, very neat and tidy. Yeah. 7:59 [Music] 8:06 And then as we move further down the 8:07 vehicle, you'll see that these cabinets 8:10 here are duplicated on both sides. And 8:13 this cabinet is the same as that cabinet 8:15 there. 8:15 Right. 8:16 So, what you've got here, this is the 8:17 traction electronics and and the 8:20 batteries. This traction electronics is 8:22 for bogey 2. And this is half of the 8:24 batteries battery cells here. You've got 8:27 half of the battery cells in this 8:29 cabinet here. And this is um the 8:33 traction electronics for bogey one. 8:34 Brilliant. 8:38 You can see this is this is the ducting 8:40 for for the cooling and the level for 8:43 the uh the liquid refrigerant for the 8:44 battery temperature. 8:45 Oh, that's that's when we were looking 8:47 at the roof. That's that's the coolant 8:48 there. Got it. Yeah. 8:54 Okay, coming further down, we've got the 8:56 brake frame. So, all of your uh brake 9:00 valves are on here. Uh if you need to 9:03 isolate anything with an issue, you 9:05 you've got isolating for each of 9:06 the bogeies and for each of the systems. 9:11 I do must admit I look at that I think I 9:13 would not know where to start. 9:16 One one good thing about this is having 9:18 it inside keeps it free of dust and 9:21 Yeah. 9:21 Yeah. Whereas so a lot of brake frames 9:22 are on the outside. 9:23 Yeah. 9:25 Okay. If we move down, this is the 9:29 earthing system. So the traction 9:31 electronics are running very high 9:33 voltages of around in excess of a 9:36 thousand volts. They also have 9:38 capacitors in those cabinets that retain 9:40 that voltage even after you've turned 9:42 the system off. This is a a safety 9:45 system that allows us to earth all that 9:47 down. And it only release these keys to 9:50 allow us to get into the cabinets once 9:52 this is earthed down. 9:54 Effectively a safety interlock safety 9:56 interlock for the for the traction 9:57 electronics. Yeah. 9:58 And finally, we've got the blower motor 10:01 for Bokei. 10:02 Right. 10:04 It is absolutely 10:07 immaculately clean. 10:10 Look at that. 10:12 You don't get a lot of dust in these 10:15 vehicles, right? If you look at an 10:17 8-year-old class 88, which is similar 10:19 design, you'll find that it's not a lot 10:21 different than this inside. 10:23 We have time to look at the cab. Again, 10:26 a lovely place to be. Thanks to the 10:28 shore supply being connected, the air 10:30 conditioning is working. And given it's 10:31 one of the hottest days of the year when 10:33 I visit, wow, is that welcome. 10:35 Okay, so on the left hand side here, 10:37 first of all, you've got the the GSMR 10:39 radio speaking to the signal. If you 10:41 come across slightly, you've got the 10:42 brake gauges, all pretty much standard 10:44 from any any locomotive car. The the 10:48 switches and the lights underneath that 10:49 are for the West Coast system. So that's 10:51 the system that allows us to haul EMUs 10:54 and control the electronic brake on an 10:56 electrical multiple unit. In the center, 10:58 you've got the speedo 11:00 and you've got the AWS, TPWS controls, 11:04 uh DRA. When ETCS gets fitted, that's 11:08 the panel that will be replaced with the 11:09 new human machine. The whole panel, the 11:12 whole panel will be replaced. Yeah. 11:14 We get into the middle and onto the 11:15 right here, we've got the driver's 11:17 display unit. So, this is the the train 11:20 management system. I can go a little bit 11:22 into more detail on that in a little 11:23 bit, but that gives all the information 11:25 that the driver requires. Then over this 11:28 side, you've got your controls for 11:30 operating the different modes, starting 11:32 and stopping your engine, raising the 11:33 panagramraph, lowering the panagramraph, 11:35 and the mode switch here where you're 11:38 able to switch it into into the 11:40 different modes. You can see 11:41 panagramraph, engine, hybrid, battery. 11:46 Of course, it's one thing to talk about 11:48 how these locomotives will perform. Far 11:51 better to actually see how they perform. 11:53 And thanks to Rail Operations Group, 11:55 that's exactly what I got to do. Okay. 11:58 Well, I'm here at Crew uh just actually 12:01 just outside where LSL are. We're just 12:03 about to go down to where the locomotive 12:06 is, the Class 93. Um it's been raining 12:08 today, so we're hopeful, well, I'm 12:11 hopeful of maybe a bit of a slippery 12:13 rail conditions, which should make 12:14 things more interesting. Anyway, let's 12:16 go and find the loco. Rail Operations 12:18 Group have taken a lease on the sidings 12:20 here at Crew South where they sublet 12:23 some of the space to transport for 12:24 Wales. It's the starting point for our 12:27 adventure. We had a bit of fun with 12:29 shunting thanks to a problem with the 12:31 set of points at the south end of the 12:32 yard. But after a bit of moving things 12:34 around, it was time for our driver for 12:37 the evening, operations manager Robert 12:39 Buchanan, and his colleague Neil Moroni, 12:42 national service delivery manager, to 12:44 complete the checks so that we could 12:46 move Light Engine to Bassford Hall where 12:49 we would collect our test train wagons. 12:53 We move off under battery power only. 12:55 And Rob explains why this mode is 12:58 superior in his view to using the diesel 13:00 engine when shunting or carrying out 13:03 moves like this. 13:04 See how much more controllable the 13:06 locomotive is now working on a battery. 13:09 It's extraordinary, isn't it? 13:10 Really nice. It's so so controllable. 13:14 At Bassford Hall yard, we're quickly 13:16 directed to the road where our wagons 13:18 await. Again, all done on battery power. 13:21 Look how controllable this is compared 13:23 to on diesel. The total weight of our 13:26 train this evening is 1,792 13:28 tons, which includes two class 93 13:31 locomotives. On our trip north, 930 will 13:34 be in the lead with 936 as backup only. 13:38 Rob's deliberately not connected the 13:40 multiple working cables, however, so 13:42 9301 is on her own. At 2252, 6 Quebec09 13:49 departs Bassford Hall yard. This time on 13:51 hybrid power, diesel and battery working 13:54 in harmony. 13:56 We run underneath crew station using the 13:58 crew independent lines and then climb 14:01 the steep gradient to join the west 14:03 coast mainline north of crew. Rob 14:07 demonstrates just how proficient the 14:09 class 93 is. 14:12 Look at that. It's coming up without any 14:14 issue at all. 1,700 tons coming up this 14:18 gradient. I think it's that's pretty 14:19 good. Max haven't shut off now. 14:23 We soon join the West Coast mainline 14:24 proper and Rob switches over to full AC 14:27 overhead collection mode. 14:31 Right. So, what I do is I go 14:35 panagramraph up. 14:38 Panagramraph's going up. See that? 14:40 Oh, yeah. The little symbol. Yeah. Yeah. 14:41 and then we'll get what the line voltage 14:44 is. 14:49 Okay, so that's coming in a second. So 14:53 what we do is we go breaker in 15:02 transition across 15:04 to the pantagramraph setting. 15:08 There you go. So, we got 25 KV in the 15:10 the overheads, right? But we don't have 15:13 the breaker in yet. Okay. So, what I do 15:17 is vehicle mode is in progress. 25 KV 15:22 has been reached. That means I can put 15:24 the breaker in. Bang. That's the breaker 15:26 in that go. Yeah. 15:28 So, what we now do is we can shut the 15:31 engine down. So, that's us now in AC 15:35 mode. 15:37 It's pitch black outside now and given 15:40 Rob needs the cab lights off, I decide 15:42 the best thing to do is enjoy the ride 15:44 north. There will be plenty of time to 15:46 film again on our return trip. 15:54 It's 3:00 a.m. and we're at Carlilele 15:57 Kingmore Yard. We've run round our train 16:00 and so 936 16:02 is going to take us south back to crew 16:04 as 6 Quebec 42. This is 936's first trip 16:09 proper down the West Coast mainline as 16:12 the leading engine. 16:14 It is worth mentioning our trip up Shat 16:16 though, the legendary 1 in 75 climb in 16:20 the Lake District. A greasy rail, a Bobo 16:23 locomotive, 1,800 tons, and we went over 16:27 the summit at over 40 mph. Very 16:30 impressive. 16:35 A quick visit to the mess room in the 16:37 yard and so as to pop to the bathroom. 16:40 And six Quebec 42 leaves Kingmore in 16:42 hybrid mode, diesel and battery at 0323. 16:50 As we head south and as dawn starts to 16:53 break, Rob and I discuss some of the 16:55 most impressive features of these 16:57 locomotives. 16:58 So this blue 17:01 band here shows the position of the 17:03 power controller. You see as I drop the 17:04 power controller back, the band drops. 17:09 This one here shows the actual konton of 17:12 power actual at the moment and what I'm 17:15 asking for. So 17:18 the little red line that you can see is 17:21 it's very faint, but you might be able 17:22 to make it out. That's actually the the 17:25 demand of what the local is the the the 17:29 local is able to give at the moment. 17:32 We're dropping downhill. So, we've gone 17:35 red. So, the red is basically we're 17:38 topping up the battery and putting the 17:40 power back into the wires. This is 17:43 Plumpton. We're in a little bit of a 17:44 sump. So, we're going to pick up again 17:47 and climb up the hill. So, as we hit the 17:50 hill, the demand will become more. And 17:54 at the present moment, you'll see it's 17:55 bouncing around a little bit, and that's 17:58 because we're getting a little bit of 17:59 wheel slip because the rails a little 18:02 bit greasy. Um, there was a train in 18:05 front of us, but it's cleared and we've 18:06 had a a bit of a fall of rain. The 18:09 remarkable thing is at the moment is 18:12 that we are running along on the speed 18:14 control and the locomotive is just 18:17 sorting itself out and it's really nice. 18:21 The battery we left Kle and the battery 18:24 was um about we left Kle Yard and it was 18:28 9 or 10%. By the time we got to Kyle 18:31 station it was up to 28% is now pretty 18:34 much fully charged. For example, we're 18:36 regening at the present moment. So, what 18:40 you'll see if the battery was lowered 18:43 was you'll see the numbers coming up 18:44 because it's charging the battery. As 18:47 you've said, you've probably seen it. 18:48 It's just changed now. 18:52 To demonstrate just how superb the 18:53 performance of this locomotive is, Rob 18:56 comes to a stand at the bottom of Eden 18:58 Valley and begins the climb from rest. 19:01 The rail is slippy and this is a heavy 19:04 load. 19:06 As you know, for Medan Valley, climbing 19:09 up through Clifton and Lou or up through 19:11 Strickland and up to the top at at um 19:16 Harrison's 19:17 is quite a climb. So, what I'm going to 19:19 do is I'm going to bring the train to 19:20 stand. 19:26 So, that's us now at a stand and I'm 19:28 going to release the brake and take 19:30 power. I'm going to take away from a 19:32 standing start. 19:35 So take enough power that I don't roll 19:37 back because it's very very heavy 19:45 and I leave it. Take it to about 75%. 19:48 Breaks off 1 m an hour 19:53 and the rail head's a little bit crazy. 19:55 So it's it's not it's not an easy start. 19:59 That's me at 90% 20:01 on a slightly greasy rail on a heavy 20:04 gradient with a curve 1,800 tons and 20:08 it's not that's it start to slap now. 20:12 So if I don't do anything, the engine 20:15 sorts itself out. Now earlier on we were 20:18 talking about the wheel crepe. So we're 20:20 at cab number two. So number four motor 20:23 is the front one. Number three is the 20:26 second one and it goes to one. So when 20:28 the locus starts to slip, once we go 20:30 over the points here, it will really 20:32 start to slip because there's oil and 20:34 etc. on the the points and you'll see 20:39 that number one uh sorry number four 20:41 motor 20:46 will give up and start to creep. 20:51 So what I'm going to do now is I'm going 20:52 to open it to full power. 20:55 That's it now at full power. And I'm 20:57 hoping that it's going to slip and show 21:00 you. 21:04 How steady is that? 21:06 It's too clever. It's 21:07 really clever. 21:09 And what I can't get over, I keep 21:11 pinching myself. This is, as you say, 21:13 1,800 tons, standing starts, slippy 21:17 rail. It's a Bobo Loco. 21:19 Yeah. 21:20 It's just extraordinary. 21:22 It is extraordinary. And 21:23 look at that. It has not missed a beat. 21:26 It's not missed a beat. 21:28 We're getting a little bit of an 21:30 inversion here with the weather. So, 21:32 we're getting the damp air getting 21:34 compressed close to the ground. That can 21:36 make the line challenging coming in the 21:38 opposite direction. 21:46 We've been very lucky for tonight's test 21:48 because we've had two weeks of um 21:52 sunshine and it's been very very hot and 21:54 we've had this drizzle which has been on 21:57 most of the evening. So it's it's made 22:02 from your point of view it's been good 22:04 because you've been able to see how the 22:06 fuel slip control system actually works 22:08 and it has worked yeah 22:10 perfectly. I mean, it's the speed that 22:12 it's doing it. I mean, it's just 22:14 extraordinary. You can hear it working. 22:15 Yeah, you can. Yeah. 22:16 And you can feel it working. 22:17 You can feel it building up as well, 22:19 but working. It certainly is. You know, 22:25 the the on this locomotive, there's a 22:27 couple of things that you you you can't 22:30 do. And one of them is you cannot apply 22:35 straight air brake to 22:38 the the wheels when they're slipping. 22:40 And so in a class 87 22:42 uh or an 86 or even you know other 22:45 locomotives you can put a little bit of 22:48 bogey brakes in and it cleans the wheels 22:50 and it helps to stop them from slipping. 22:53 As soon as you touch the brake 22:56 will put the brake on. It'll put the 22:58 brake on because it's not configured to 23:00 take power and break at the same time. 23:03 But you don't need to because the wheel 23:06 slip control system's so good. 23:10 Just south of Lancaster, we are looped 23:11 to allow a southbound Caledonian sleeper 23:14 to overtake. 23:19 We pass through Preston and very much on 23:22 home turf here. 23:29 We're looped again at Warrington Bank 23:31 Key. Quick chance to grab a much needed 23:34 coffee. 23:36 Approaching crew, we pass under the 23:38 station using the crew independent lines 23:40 once more. Although one could be 23:42 forgiven for thinking we were visiting 23:44 the Eden project. 23:47 And then we arrived back at Bazford Hall 23:50 at 0727, 23:51 just 5 minutes behind schedule. 23:55 I'm still trying to process the trip and 23:58 what I've witnessed. The west coast 24:00 mainline through the Lake District is a 24:02 tough section of railway. Eden Valley, 24:05 Shap, a slippy rail in many places, 24:08 1,800 tons and a Bobo locomotive. Yet, 24:12 it performed as if it had hardly noticed 24:15 anything out of the ordinary at all. 24:17 Truly impressive. 24:21 When I visited workshop the week 24:23 earlier, I had asked Andy how he felt 24:26 the testing program was going. And 24:29 having seen a trip now firsthand, his 24:33 answer the previous week really now made 24:35 sense. 24:36 It's definitely not what we expected. 24:37 It's definitely in in excess of what we 24:40 expected. We've been very pleasantly 24:42 surprised by particularly the the 24:44 tonnages that we've taken up SHA on a 24:46 damp rail. We've got up to 1,800 tons 24:49 and, you know, taken it over easily 24:51 really. Um, we've we're very we're very 24:54 excited by the life of the batteries and 24:56 just what we're getting out the 24:57 batteries that we didn't fully expect 24:59 this. I think we were told it by Stadler 25:01 in the first place, but given the 25:03 experience with previous generations of 25:05 locomotives, we didn't necessarily 25:06 believe that that batteries would last 25:08 as long as they have done, but we've 25:10 been yeah, we've been more than 25:11 pleasantly surprised by the performance. 25:13 Rail Operations Group has taken 25:15 something of a gamble with a class 93 25:17 though it's a speculative order and 25:20 although the team are working very hard 25:22 to secure customer contracts they 25:24 recognize there's much work still to do. 25:27 Here's Brian Ferguson to explain in 25:30 terms of the customer contact then I'm 25:32 I'm you know I'm sure a lot of this is 25:33 commercially confidential completely 25:35 understand that but are are discussions 25:38 underway and going well? Are you 25:40 starting to see interest in this? Yeah, 25:42 we have and uh you know it's it's been 25:44 it's been difficult you know up to now 25:46 because there's been undemonstrated 25:47 performance by by the locomotive but 25:49 since we've done these load trials we we 25:52 are getting that capability out there 25:53 which has generated a lot of interest. 25:55 So yeah we have I've got some really key 25:57 key customers that are that are 25:58 interested and potentially some customer 26:01 trials that are coming up soon. As a as 26:03 a an asset leasing company you know we 26:05 need to we need to manage the assets 26:06 that we've got here today which is the 26:08 first 10. You know, we've I think we're 26:09 now demonstrating capability and and and 26:12 and proving how good it is out in the 26:14 network. It's securing these first 26:16 leases, these these contracts, getting 26:17 them out into the customers and and and 26:19 and carrying out workflows as as they 26:21 appear today. Once we can see that, and 26:24 then we can then start looking at 26:25 justifying additional assets. 26:27 Got it. So, if anybody watches this and is impressed by what they see and thinks, 'Oh, do you know what? That could be exactly what I need to lease or hire. You're the guy for them to come and talk to. Absolutely. Yes. Well, very keen to speak to other customers who who are interested in brand new 93s and we can we can start off a build program, you know, almost immediately. Mind you, I have to say Brian's job may have been made somewhat easier the more chance his prospective customers have to see this locomotive in action. It's 27:00 light. It's powerful. It's a stunning place for the team that are driving it to work. And that does matter. The battery is not a gimmick, and I see that now. It is superbly controllable during yard moves and shunting operations. And working in tandem with the diesel, it does provide substantial power, and from what I saw in the test run, never came close to being depleted. But this is an expensive bit of kit. It does need to find work and soon. Yet, locomotives like these are the future of rail freight. We may have been running as a class 6 train on our test run, but we ran at 60 mph for an awful lot of the journey on inter modal services on a mixed traffic railway. That's a train planner and signalman's dream. Rail operations group may have taken a bit of a gamble, but it's also great to see an entrepreneurial spirit alive and well. Good on them. They deserve to succeed. 28:00 The future is bright. The future is electric. But it also needs to be flexible. And I hope very much that the future includes the class 93. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music]

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