Trains are not the first technology you think of when looking at Sellafield but they have a vital importance in keeping Europe’s largest nuclear site ‘on the rails’.


Recently, Sellafield bolstered its rail fleet with the arrival of its first fully electric locomotive adding to its impressive collection of two hybrid 80-tonne trains.

The new 40 tonne, fully battery-powered locomotive, built by Staffordshire-based Clayton’s in four months, is set to improve the site's rail operations.
With the company boasting one of the country's largest internal rail networks, spanning 11 miles, the upgrade will also help Sellafield Ltd reduce its carbon footprint.

The team wanted to bring the electric vehicles in five years ago after the emission standards on the diesel locomotives caused some issues in buildings around the site.

This caused the company to look at new technologies based on the specifications the transport team had for the vehicles.
Lead system engineer for transportation John Thomas said: “Initially we looked at putting a diesel particulates filter on one of the locos because we had used it on a transport vehicle in the past and it was quite successful, but that wasn’t practical.
“So we then looked at pulling a specification together, saying we would prefer a diesel, maybe an electrical, and if we had a hybrid we could use it on diesel when we were outside of the buildings but when we were in the hoist wells we could switch it to electric. We could go into them emission free and alleviate all of them issues that we had.”
It went to tender and they received a competitive quote from Clayton’s.  John said: “It wasn’t long before we realised that we could do 100 per cent electric.”
The team has now had two 80-tonne Clayton hybrid trains and has recently brought in the third, which for the first time is fully electric.
There are now three electric trains on the site which can run for around ten days without needing to be  charged. Each one takes around nine hours to charge.
The former diesel locomotives have been donated to heritage centres across the country, with some one of the machines going to Eden Valley railways at Warcop.
John said: “You have got to have people who are willing to adapt to change. There are always better ways to do things and move forward.”