Revolution VLR
Malcolm Dobell described the Revolution VLR (RVLR) in Issue 193 (Nov-Dec 2021). Design of this demonstrator vehicle started in 2018, construction in 2019, and the vehicle was completed in 2021. It was then demonstrated on a redundant railway that served the Ironbridge power station which closed on 2015.
To create a demonstration site, the track required minor repairs and a workshop, visitor centre, and platform were all constructed. All this was done in six months at a cost of less than £400,000. RVLR is intended to be a lightweight rail vehicle that offers a lower cost alternative to traditional heavy rail vehicles on branch lines to improve the business cases for line re-openings. Demonstrating the RVLR at Ironbridge showed how quickly a redundant railway could be brought back into use.
RVLR has been developed by a consortium led by Transport Design International Ltd (TDI) with Eversholt Rail, WMG at the University of Warwick, Cummins diesel engines, Transcal, RDM Group, and Prose (Switzerland), with support from Department for Transport (DfT) and RSSB. It aims to deliver a reliable, high quality passenger experience at the lowest possible cost using a lightweight vehicle to minimise track wear. It is a 56-seat, single 18.5-metre long railcar constructed on a steel underframe, with aluminium/Kevlar reinforced vehicle ends and roof with bodysides of double skin 18.5-metre-long elements.
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