WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140
- When I heard that there was
a 100% solar powered train

2
00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:05.800
in the world, I thought:
that's a ridiculous idea.

3
00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:08.450
Of course solar power isn't enough
to move a massive, heavy train.

4
00:00:08.450 --> 00:00:11.680
There isn't even a practical
solar powered car on the market,

5
00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:13.230
and yet, here it is.

6
00:00:13.230 --> 00:00:15.330
Welcome to Byron Bay, Australia,

7
00:00:15.330 --> 00:00:18.700
home of the Byron Bay Railroad Company.

8
00:00:18.700 --> 00:00:21.080
- This is a 70-year-old vintage train.

9
00:00:21.080 --> 00:00:24.210
It was built in 1949,
after the Second World War.

10
00:00:24.210 --> 00:00:28.030
And we've converted it now
to the world's first solar powered train.

11
00:00:28.030 --> 00:00:31.180
Our train would typically
have had two diesel engines,

12
00:00:31.180 --> 00:00:34.610
and we've taken one of those out,
kept one as a backup,

13
00:00:34.610 --> 00:00:37.170
and that's been replaced
essentially with the batteries,

14
00:00:37.170 --> 00:00:39.210
and a new gearbox, and
all the control equipment.

15
00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:40.730
We have a 70-ton train,

16
00:00:40.730 --> 00:00:43.720
but in terms of a full-size train,
that's quite light.

17
00:00:43.720 --> 00:00:47.110
It's also renowned to be
very quiet in the industry.

18
00:00:47.110 --> 00:00:50.450
- I'm the train driver of the
only solar train in the world.

19
00:00:50.450 --> 00:00:52.663
I've been driving the train from day one,

20
00:00:52.663 --> 00:00:56.030
which has been operating
for about 16 months now.

21
00:00:56.030 --> 00:00:58.260
I had my own business for 31 years.

22
00:00:58.260 --> 00:01:03.380
I sold the business 10 years ago
and basically did myself out of a job.

23
00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:06.500
And then this job came along.
And so I put my hand up for it,

24
00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:10.820
and, yes, they trained me up
and here I am driving a train.

25
00:01:10.820 --> 00:01:15.650
Actually, driving a solar train is easier
than driving it when it's in diesel.

26
00:01:15.650 --> 00:01:19.570
Our track's three kilometres long
and the train goes from Byron Bay

27
00:01:19.570 --> 00:01:21.700
back to what we call
our North Beach Station.

28
00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:25.740
And it's got a slight grade up,
slight grade down in certain sections.

29
00:01:25.740 --> 00:01:30.880
So what we do is we throttle up
to get us up to the first hump in the road

30
00:01:30.880 --> 00:01:34.070
and then we coast for the next,
probably, half a kilometre,

31
00:01:34.070 --> 00:01:35.520
then we throttle back up again

32
00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:37.580
to get us over the next
little hump in the road.

33
00:01:37.580 --> 00:01:39.470
And that's how we get
ourselves into Byron.

34
00:01:39.470 --> 00:01:43.620
And doing it that way, we don't use
near as much battery power.

35
00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:46.840
And that's the name of the game,
save the battery power.

36
00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:49.950
You got to remember that
the train weighs 70 tonne.

37
00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:53.920
So once it gets up its momentum,
you've got steel on steel

38
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.620
so it just keeps rolling on.

39
00:01:55.620 --> 00:01:59.190
We have regen braking and we
use it as much as possible.

40
00:01:59.190 --> 00:02:02.550
That throws some charge back
into the batteries every time we use it.

41
00:02:02.550 --> 00:02:04.770
- The battery on this train
is roughly the same size

42
00:02:04.770 --> 00:02:06.260
as you'd find in an electric car.

43
00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:08.100
It stores 77 kilowatt-hours.

44
00:02:08.100 --> 00:02:10.310
And a run back and forth uses about five.

45
00:02:10.310 --> 00:02:12.560
Now that means this takes more
power than an electric car

46
00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:16.090
but not that much more
considering it carries 70 people.

47
00:02:16.090 --> 00:02:18.040
- The solar on the
train works in two ways.

48
00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:21.710
We have 6½ kilowatts of solar panels
on the roof of the train.

49
00:02:21.710 --> 00:02:22.680
And then in addition to that,

50
00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:26.270
we have a 30 kilowatt array
on top of the platform here.

51
00:02:26.270 --> 00:02:31.570
So the combined there is 36½ kilowatts
and we can produce, on a good day,

52
00:02:31.570 --> 00:02:33.970
up to 150 kilowatt-hours of energy.

53
00:02:33.970 --> 00:02:35.730
The solar panels on the roof of the train

54
00:02:35.730 --> 00:02:39.520
are constantly doing a trickle charge
of the battery on the train.

55
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:42.470
And then a couple of times a day,
just to top up the battery,

56
00:02:42.470 --> 00:02:45.590
we plug it into here at the platform
like an electric car,

57
00:02:45.590 --> 00:02:47.260
using electric car equipment.

58
00:02:47.260 --> 00:02:52.510
This is a net carbon positive project
and in the first year of service

59
00:02:52.510 --> 00:02:56.480
we put 60,000 kilowatt-hours
back into the grid

60
00:02:56.480 --> 00:02:58.520
on top of the power that we used

61
00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.730
which is enough to power 17
three-bedroom houses.

62
00:03:01.730 --> 00:03:03.390
As an example, in the peak of summer

63
00:03:03.390 --> 00:03:05.930
with the low amount of
energy used per trip,

64
00:03:05.930 --> 00:03:10.080
we can actually run a whole day's service
without topping up the charge,

65
00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:13.240
just from the 6½ kilowatt array
on the roof of the train

66
00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:15.610
and the 77 kilowatt battery bank.

67
00:03:15.610 --> 00:03:17.610
- This isn't something
that would work everywhere

68
00:03:17.610 --> 00:03:19.080
or even that should work everywhere.

69
00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:21.330
The weather here is
perfect for solar power

70
00:03:21.330 --> 00:03:25.560
and this is a small independent railway
with one bit of straight flat track

71
00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:28.040
and a train that can spend
some time plugged in.

72
00:03:28.040 --> 00:03:29.250
For most railroad companies,

73
00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:32.650
it'll be a better idea to add a third rail
or some overhead power lines

74
00:03:32.650 --> 00:03:34.760
and run the train off
the regular power grid

75
00:03:34.760 --> 00:03:37.530
and then put some solar panels
on the station roof as well.

76
00:03:37.530 --> 00:03:40.900
But as a demonstration of what's
possible with solar power,

77
00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:44.120
and as a neat way to bring some
tourists to your train line,

78
00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:45.970
it's a pretty good idea.

79
00:03:45.970 --> 00:03:49.080
- We've been running for
a little bit over a year.

80
00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:51.700
We've carried over 100,000
passengers in that time

81
00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:53.600
and we haven't missed a service.

82
00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:55.710
- Thanks to all the team at
the Byron Bay Railroad Company.

83
00:03:55.710 --> 00:03:58.590
Pull down the description
for more about them and about this train.