Fully solar powered train launching in Australia
The Byron Bay Railroad Company, operated by Australian coal mining executive Brian Flannery, expects to have its solar-driven heritage train running by the end of 2017. Unlike a solar train in India, which as all its car's electricals powered by the sun, this train will actually have a solar powered engine.
It will operate on part of the disused Casino-to-Murwillumbah line, which closed in 2004.
Dan Cass, a renewable energy specialist at the Australia Institute, said: "This is the first we have heard of a train this size that is literally solar powered, with PV modules on the roof." The train will travel three kilometres each way from Byron Bay to North Beach, just near Elements of Byron, a five-star resort owned by Brian and Peggy Flannery, who also have the controlling interest in the not-for-profit train company. It's a bit of a novelty train, and and ironic one as well, being launched by a coal baron – it's a sign of the times.