Experts from the SRCC rail research campus want to help the switch from diesel to battery-powered trains get off the ground with a new type of charging station. The "wallbox" for trains will be tested for a year in Annaberg-Buchholz and will then be available to trains in regular operation in 2024, SRCC Managing Director Sören Claus told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Then, according to the plan, individual battery trains on the Leipzig-Chemnitz line will continue to Annaberg and be charged there.
Just over 60 percent of Germany's rail network is electrified. Diesel vehicles have been rolling on the remaining lines without overhead lines up to now. To protect the climate, they are to be replaced in the future by trains powered by batteries or hydrogen. Battery-powered trains can usually be charged via current collectors on existing overhead lines, for example during a stop at the station. But that is not possible everywhere, Claus emphasized. He estimates that a high double-digit number of separate charging stations will be needed nationwide.
