The future of environmentally friendly travel may have arrived, and Germany is leading the effort, launching the world’s first hydrogen-powered rail line on Wednesday.
Fourteen hydrogen trains powered by fuel cell propulsion will run exclusively on the track in Bremervörde, Lower Saxony. The 93 million euro ($92.3 million) arrangement was reached between the railway’s owners, Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LVNG), and Alstom, the manufacturer of the Coradia iLint trains. The project also includes the Elbe-Weser Railways and Transport Business (EVB), which will operate the trains, as well as the gas and engineering company Linde.
The trains, five of which will make their debut on Wednesday, will gradually replace the 15 diesel trains that now travel on the line, with all 14 running solely by the end of the year. One kilogram of hydrogen fuel is equivalent to approximately 4.5 kilograms of diesel.
The trains emit no emissions and are extremely quiet, emitting just steam and condensed water from the exhaust. They have a range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), which means they can run on the network for an entire day on a single tank of hydrogen. A hydrogen filling station has already been installed along the route. The trains may reach speeds of up to 140 kph (87mph), however, the average speed on the route is substantially lower, ranging from 80 to 120 kph.
“Emission-free mobility is one of the most important goals for ensuring a sustainable future,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Alstom’s CEO, in a statement.
The deal has been a decade in the making. LVNG had been looking for diesel alternatives since 2012, according to a press release, and in 2018, Alstom ran a two-year trial of the trains. Germany currently has around 4,000 diesel trains on its non-electrified tracks. The Coradia iLint has also been tested in Austria, Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Linde operates the fuelling station, which contains 64 high-pressure storage tanks, six hydrogen compressors, and two fuel pumps.
Lower Saxony’s President, Stephan Weil, called the announcement a “model for the rest of the world” and a “milestone on the road to climate neutrality in the transportation sector.”
The trains’ next stop will be Frankfurt, where 27 will be delivered to the metropolitan region. They will also stop in Italy, where six trains will be used in the northern Lombardy area, and France, where 12 trains will be divided over four regions.
