Byron Solar Train has released their “Drive the World’s First Solar Train” experience, with half and full day packages including full training to put travellers in the driver’s seat.
“If there’s one thing we hear from passengers day in and day out it’s that they have always wanted to be a train driver,” Byron Solar Train general manager Robert Jarvis said. “So we’re over the moon to finally be able to offer this. Watching people experience the thrill of driving this magnificent train is the best feeling.”
“I’ve done a lot of things and I’ve driven a lot of different types of vehicles,” a procurement advisor from Brisbane Kristian Wegener said.” But the chance to drive a train doesn’t come along.. ever! It was an unmissable experience, just being in the drivers’ seat of that beautiful piece of Australian rail history.”
The solar train passes through littoral rainforest, endangered coastal wetlands and over the stunning tea tree Belongil Creek, part of Cape Byron Marine Park, on its way to the Byron Bay town centre. This is net carbon positive travel, Byron style.
The rail service, which launched in 2017, is the first solar train in the world. While others have tried, only one other full sized fully solar powered train has maintained operations – a government funded service in Argentina which took its first passengers last year.
What is also remarkable is the Byron Solar Train repurposed derelict rail infrastructure, restoring two 1949 era carriages that had been out of service for decades prior to retrofitting them for solar powered operation.
Half day package $550, full day package with lunch $960, both with a stack of merch and return runs into Byron Bay.
