According to its owner Porterbrook, the train was developed by adding a powerful battery to a 20-year-old diesel train to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 25 per cent.
The firm added that the two-carriage train, named HybridFLEX, also provides a 75 per cent decrease in noise and a 70 per cent decrease in nitrogen oxide.
The Government has pledged to remove all diesel-only trains from UK railways by 2040.
Chiltern Railways will introduce the train on its 40-mile route between London Marylebone and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, from today (10 February). There are also plans to use it between the capital and Oxford in the coming months.
“Chiltern Railways is determined to operate a railway that is as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible,” said its managing director Richard Allan. “We have worked hard with our partners to fit a powerful battery power pack underneath a 20-year-old diesel train to make the train cleaner, quieter and...