I don't know how the setup is on this thing, but the roof has 40m2 of suitable angle and at 150W/m2, this is only 6kW or 42 kWh a day in winter, up to 60 kW in summer per car.

A 80-100kW motor is likely more than enough to get it moving, but it will need to have its battery boosted on arrival to each station like the Newcastle tram.

The solar panels on the train itself are little more than show. They keep the auxiliary battery charged up. The majority of the energy actually comes from the grid at the depot where the railcar set is plugged in and the batteries charged overnight.
The depot roof is covered with solar panels and over a day produces enough electricity to cover what the charge cycle uses at night, but they don't store it at the depot, but push it into the electricity grid.
They are basically using the electricity grid as a giant battery. I believe at a later stage if funding is forthcoming, a battery bank will be installed at the depot so the power would be PV solar -> (depot)battery -> (railcar)battery


One of the 2 diesel engines has been replaced by an electric drive, leaving the other engine and transmission in place to allow the train to get back to the depot if it has an electrical problem or the batteries get critically low.

At the moment they can only claim it's a 'solar train' by accounting fiddle.

It's really a technology demonstrator test bed and not a commercially viable system on it's own, but as a technology demonstrator it's providing valuable data on possibilities.

Of course once the rail-trail people take over the railway alignment, they will fight any proposal for the railway to be reinstated in the future as they won't want to lose their nice level trail. While I like the idea of disused rail alignments becoming cycle touring paths, the cycle touring lobby then become vocal opposition to rail reopening and I'd rather a functioning railway than a touring cycle route.

I don't know how the setup is on this thing, but the roof has 40m2 of suitable angle and at 150W/m2, this is only 6kW or 42 kWh a day in winter, up to 60 kW in summer per car.

A 80-100kW motor is likely more than enough to get it moving, but it will need to have its battery boosted on arrival to each station like the Newcastle tram.

The solar panels on the train itself are little more than show. They keep the auxiliary battery charged up. The majority of the energy actually comes from the grid at the depot where the railcar set is plugged in and the batteries charged overnight.
The depot roof is covered with solar panels and over a day produces enough electricity to cover what the charge cycle uses at night, but they don't store it at the depot, but push it into the electricity grid.
They are basically using the electricity grid as a giant battery. I believe at a later stage if funding is forthcoming, a battery bank will be installed at the depot so the power would be PV solar -> (depot)battery -> (railcar)battery


One of the 2 diesel engines has been replaced by an electric drive, leaving the other engine and transmission in place to allow the train to get back to the depot if it has an electrical problem or the batteries get critically low.

At the moment they can only claim it's a 'solar train' by accounting fiddle.

It's really a technology demonstrator test bed and not a commercially viable system on it's own, but as a technology demonstrator it's providing valuable data on possibilities.

Of course once the rail-trail people take over the railway alignment, they will fight any proposal for the railway to be reinstated in the future as they won't want to lose their nice level trail. While I like the idea of disused rail alignments becoming cycle touring paths, the cycle touring lobby then become vocal opposition to rail reopening and I'd rather a functioning railway than a touring cycle route.

Thanks, I thought as much.

A depo battery is really a waste of time and money, dump it into the grid. its an off-set, this is allowed in the RE world.

Not sure its really a demonstrator or need for it. Battery powered trains are hardly new and as I said before the Newcastle tram is effectively a battery powered train. If more money had been available it may have proven to be more efficient to buy the same tram car set as they are lighter and designed for this type of work.

Realistically almost no railway converted to cycle way is ever returned with only a few exceptions and if the opposition is strong to oppose it being converted back to a railway then clearly the cycle way see's plenty of use. So just don't think you are going to take it off them without a fight, provide an alternative, you may get a different response.

I think yes fine you could argue that the line to Mull-by can be offered to the Solar train, but do they need/want/justify anymore track beyond, maybe Ocean Shores would be deemed the most viable northern limit? Probably unlikely without deep pockets supporting them. They will need to do something different to service up to Mull-by as the current train is too slow to make it more than a once off "train ride".

If its intended to be a serious form of a PT, the vehicle of choice should probably be modernised and consider trams as they are nearly half the weight.

6.5 kw on the trains roof and 30kw on the roof of the shed. Yes I believe they are looking in to batteries. According to their website 73% of the electricity generated by the shed roof is fed back in to the grid while the rest is used to power the train according to their website. https://byronbaytrain.com.au/sustainability/

The problem with feeding electricity back in to the grid these days is that we are no longer getting the 60c a kw/h we used to in NSW. Many are only offering 12c a kw/h but charging over 20c to bring it back in off the grid. This is why a shed battery should be looked at because storing energy in the grid in NSW is now just a money waster.

6.5 kw on the roof and 30kw on the roof of the shed. Yes I believe they are looking in to batteries. According to their website 73% of the electricity generated by the shed roof is fed back in to the grid while the rest is used to power the train according to their website. https://byronbaytrain.com.au/sustainability/

The problem with feeding electricity back in to the grid these days is that we are no longer getting the 60c a kw/h we used to in NSW. Many are only offering 12c a kw/h but charging over 20c to bring it back in off the grid. This is why a shed battery should be looked at because storing energy in the grid in NSW is now just a money waster.

....or you simply charge the train battery on off-peak power during the night on low cost off-peak power (around 12c) and then only top up during the day as needed to sustain the service and feed into the grid most of the solar power generated during the day. Thus avoiding the +$100k cost of another battery and the significant energy loss in charging a battery charging a charging battery.