London Midland’s electric trains fitted with meters

London Midland has invested £1.6m in fitting its entire fleet of electric trains with electric meters.

The meters will allow the train operator, which is the first in the UK to install such equipment on its entire fleet of electric trains, to only pay for the electricity that it uses as opposed to the former arrangement where London Midland purchased electricity from Network Rail using a billing system that estimated how much they consumed.

It is estimated that this latest move will over time see the company’s £15m electricity bill reduced by up to 20%. Fitted in equipment cupboards onboard the trains, the meters, which are connected to new current and voltage transducers on the class 321s and 323s and to existing current and voltage transducers on the class 350s, transmit the meter readings via a roof top mounted GPS/GSM antenna.

Readings are taken at 1 minute intervals.

The work was carried out at Soho and Northampton depots.

London Midland service at Watford Junction. Picture: Jonathan Webb