Germany is changing the future of train travel and its first hydrogen-powered railway line is the clear example of evolution, if we are talking about means of transport.
For a long time there had been comments on the various possibilities of improving the drive of the trains and it seems that they have already found the solution. Fourteen hydrogen fuel cell trains will run exclusively on the Bremervörde, Lower Saxony, route.
The agreement has been reached by the state subsidiary Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LVNG), the owners of the railway, and Alstom, builders of the Coradia iLint trains for 92.3 million dollars.
Alstom
For its part, the Elbe-Weser Railway and Transport Company (EVB) will operate the trains, and the gas and engineering company Linde will also be an important part of the project.
These trains will eventually replace the 15 Diesel trains that currently circulate, so far five of them did so in the morning. All are expected to do so by the end of the year.
To see the impact of this change, only 1 kilo of hydrogen fuel is capable of doing the same as almost 5 kilos of Diesel.
Alstom
The new trains are emission-free and do not generate much noise, and they only need steam and condensed water, which comes out of the exhaust. Plus they can run a whole day on the grid on just a tank of hydrogen.
On the designated route there is already a service station to refuel if necessary. The trains are allowed to go at a maximum speed of 87 miles per hour.
“Emission-free mobility is one of the most important goals to ensure a sustainable future,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO of Alstom, in a statement.
Alstom
The service station, operated by Linde, has 64 high-pressure storage tanks, six hydrogen compressors and two fuel pumps.
The next objective with this new way of traveling is to be able to reach Frankfurt and thus replace Diesel trains with hydrogen ones. In fact, 27 of them have already been ordered for the metropolitan area.