Abellio London Queenstown Battersea Garage [QB]...New Hybrids for the 188...Happy New Year!

First of all, I on behalf of the COL Blog team would like to wish all you a very happy new year and for all of your heart's desires to be fulfilled in 2012. Who would of thought that we would still be going strong and as today is new years day, we thought we would give you a horough post today as a treat for all of you viewers.

The industrial town of Battersea is home to many things; Battersea Power Station, Battersea Dogs & Cats home however it is also home to Abellio's Battersea Garage which is coincidently the company's biggest garage. The Garage was opened by the much criticised mayor Boris Johnson on the 17th of May 2009 for a staggering fee of £7million pounds! The garage is located on the former Victorian depot which was formerly used to stable trains from the southern regions. Even today Southern Class 377s can be seen adjacent to the depot. The opening of this garage had many benefits to the company including its convenient location which made it easier for employees to travel to work and it also reduced the dead mileage significantly on Abellio London bus routes, helping the company to pay back TFL with reduced costs.

In its current form the garage is holding 140 buses, 126 of which are used in the peak times, however the garage is actually capable of holding up to 200 buses. It currently runs routes  35, 156, 211, 414, 452, C3, C10 24-hour route 344 and night bus N3, N35. To add to this on February 11th 2012 the company's flagship route '3' will be transferred from the company's Beddington Cross Garage (BC) using some ADL E400 Hybrids which were surprisingly purchased using the company's own finances. 

According to company statistics, the Buses that run from Battersea Garage are amongst the most environmentally friendly buses on the streets of London and the opening of this new garage with all the new features it posses will help QB's Buses to continue to be the greenest Buses in London. One such new feature is a water storage tank that is capable of housing up to 41,000 litres of water at any one time. The water stored up will then be used to clean the site as well as fuel the water used in the bus wash. Other features include an indoor engineering bay which can house up to 10 buses at a time which reduces the amount of time in which buses take to get repaired. In addition to this the garage also has a bus wash that can treat up 6 buses at a time, this also reduces time in which buses are off the road, helping controllers to dispose the washed buses onto their duties for the day. All in all the garage is a very nice garage which also has a nice atmosphere, made possible by the wonderful employees of this company.

Amid this, the actual reason I visited this location is due to the fact, I had gained word that some Hybrids due to commence service on the 188 in January had been delivered to the premises. Interesting I came here on Monday 24th of December however my camera battery died on me and I could not gain the shots I desired. So to my shock, when I arrived here today I noticed that 10 of the 13 Hybrids had been delivered here prior to being commissioned then transferring to the company's Walworth base in Camberwell. The new Hybrids are built to this seemingly needless W.T.A specification which sees them have a decrease in capacity and an increase in weight. The Abellio E400 Hybrids weigh a staggering 11,950KGS.

Credit goes out to the Abellio London staff who allowed this visit to be possible and I must remind you viewers that the visit was a planned one that was fully authorised by the company and all compulsory safety procedures were followed whilst I was on site. More photos from the visit are placed below.

Key Facts to Note about Battersea Garage

• Opened on the 17th of May 2009
• Abellio London's biggest Garage
• Runs 10 Bus Routes
• Has a PVR of 126
• Capable of holding 200 buses
• One of the most economically friendly bus garages in London
• Abellio London's Central maintenance point
• Abellio London's main storage facility.