Orpington Bus Station - Bus Charging Pantograph & Kit

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31st March 2021

Orpington Bus Station – Bus Charging Pantograph & Kit

Proposed Works This project proposes the installation of an electric bus pantograph, and associated equipment, to enable the charging of buses parked at the existing bus station.

The bus station is located on the eastern side of the Network Rail owned Orpington Station between the station itself and Station approach adjacent to the park and is currently held on a lease by London Bus Services Limited from The Arch Company as an operational bus station.

Permitted Development

The works benefit from the permitted development rights enjoyed by London Bus Services Limited under the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 9, Class C and as the proposals are for an operational bus station they fall within the Part 9, Class C(e).

Part 9, Class C(e) allows for “any other development on operational land of the undertaking “. There are several exclusions to works under Class C.1(b)(i), (ii) & (iii) however; the proposals do not fall into any of these.

Although it is not important for this application it is likely that the pantograph itself would fall with Part 9, Class C(a) that allows for “the installation of posts, overhead wires, underground cables, feeder pillars or transformer boxes in, on, over or adjacent to a highway for the purpose of supplying current to public service vehicles” and that the housings fall within Part 9, Class C(c) that allows for “the installation of telephone cables and apparatus, huts, stop posts and signs required in connection with the operation of public service vehicles”.

Additionally, the proposed UKPN sub-station (marked as (1) on the plans) would benefit from the permitted development rights enjoyed by electricity undertakings under the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 15, Class B(a).

Part 15, Class B(a) allows for “the installation or replacement in, on, over or under land of an electric line and the construction of shafts and tunnels and the installation or replacement of feeder or service pillars or transforming or switching stations or chambers reasonably necessary in connection with an electric line “. There are a couple of exclusions to works under Class B.1(a)(i) & (ii) however; the proposals do not fall into any of these.

Opportunity Charging on the Route 358

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy has a commitment to deliver a zero-emission bus network by 2037, and all new buses introduced onto the network from 2025 must be zero emission. This is to address the air quality crisis in London and reduce TfL’s carbon footprint. It will also improve the customer experience and increase the attractiveness of buses as a mode choice.

There isn’t a single technology choice which will deliver TfL’s zero emission bus network ambitions. Whilst garage-charged electric buses should be able to meet the operational demands of around 75% of London’s bus routes, the remaining 25% would require extra buses due to their longer ranger, increasing costs and vehicle stabling requirements. Hydrogen fuel cell buses could serve the remaining 25% but the high costs and limited supply chain resilience make this challenging. We are introducing a double deck trial to understand this at depth later this year. Opportunity Charged (OC) electric buses can also allow buses to operate all day on long routes, using small battery buses that receive high-voltage charges to top up the battery whilst in service. A pantograph and associated equipment need to be installed at each end of the route to enable this. TfL is proposing to commission a full route OC trial on a high demand, high mileage London bus route to understand the costs, performance and customer perception of OC technology. The Route 358 is a long, busy, high frequency bus route operating entirely in the LB Bromley, between Crystal Palace and Orpington. It operates for more than 21 hours a day using 20, 12m single deck EURO VI diesel buses. The route characteristics are ideal to trial opportunity charging, and initial conversations with senior officers at LB Bromley and Councillors have indicated strong support for the trial. Go Ahead will be the operator for the trial and will deliver the infrastructure and buses on behalf of TfL. They have extensive experience with installing electrification equipment, and in operating electric buses. The technology required to implement the trial include 20 new electric buses and a pantograph, transformer and substation at both Crystal Palace bus station and Orpington bus station. The chosen bus design, the ‘Irizar ieTram’ (see picture below), will provide the highest specification safety standard London bus and customer experience. The pantograph and associated equipment have been designed to minimise visual impact on the local environment, remain entirely within the existing bus stations at each site, and to provide a reliable and resilient charging to the buses throughout the day.