BERLIN – European railway manufacturer Alstom has launched what it says is the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell train in Lower Saxony, Germany.
In an announcement Sunday, the French business said that the Coradia iLint can travel up to 140 kilometers per hour.
Built nearby in Salzgitter, the trains are equipped with fuel cells which convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, eliminating pollutant emissions related to propulsion.
Today the Coradia iLint heralds a new era in #emissionfree rail transport as the world’s first #hydrogen train enters into #passenger operation in Lower Saxony in Germany https://t.co/Hvys8d8gZZ #InnoTrans2018 @InnoTrans pic.twitter.com/tX5acuTbe8
— Alstom (@Alstom) September 16, 2018
From Monday, two of these hydrogen fuel-cell trains will enter commercial service on a 100km stretch of operator Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser’s (EVB) rail network between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude, replacing its diesel fleet in the process.
“The world’s first hydrogen fuel cell train is entering passenger service and is ready for serial production,” Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Alstom’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“The Coradia iLint heralds a new era in emission-free rail transport,” Poupart-Lafarge added. “It is an innovation that results from French-German teamwork and exemplifies successful cross-border cooperation.”
The European Commission has described hydrogen as an energy carrier with “great potential for clean, efficient power in stationary, portable and transport applications.”
It is already being used in vehicles around the world. To give just one example, a fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses is currently in operation in the Scottish city of Aberdeen.
Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge described the hydrogen fuel-cell train as “a revolution for Alstom and for the future of mobility.”
He added: “The Coradia iLint heralds a new era in emission-free rail transport. It is an innovation that results from French-German teamwork and exemplifies successful cross-border cooperation.”
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/video-china-set-to-start-worlds-fastest-commercial-train-service/
The new trains will be fuelled at a mobile hydrogen filling pump at Bremervörde station.
With one tank they can operate up to 1,000km before they need to be refuelled.
A stationary filling station on EVB premises is scheduled to go into operation in 2021, when Alstom will deliver a further 14 Coradia iLint trains to transport authority Lower Saxony Transport Authority (LNVG).
