Although rail is already being called the greenest mode of transport, it is still a long way from being fully decarbonized. The opportunity should be seen in the further development of fuel cell traction vehicles. Why? Because they represent a zero-emission alternative that can be operated on all routes that already exist today, including those that are not electrified. Will the world’s first hydrogen railroad replace conventional fuel vehicles in the coming years?
The use of hydrogen fuel cell technology in rail transport in the coming years may contribute to the complete abandonment of the use of diesel locomotives. Railroads are already considered one of the most environmentally friendly modes of transport, primarily due to the intensified electrification of this sector worldwide in recent decades. In Poland, this process developed most rapidly for fifty years, from 1946 to 1995, and recorded its highest rate in the second half of the 1980s. However, the sudden suspension of work in this area for over twenty years has meant that still about 36% of all rail routes in Poland have not been electrified. According to experts, this contributes to bottlenecks on some routes, where using electric rail as an alternative to diesel trains is not possible. Although Poland is a country with a relatively high degree of railroad electrification compared to other European countries (more than 60% of all routes), and new projects have been launched in recent years, the target is still far from being reached. Mainly because of the high costs and the need to build a complex infrastructure. It should also be remembered that it is difficult to speak of electric railroads as a completely zero-emission solution. If we want to achieve climate neutrality following the EU goals, it is necessary to look for new, innovative solutions.
The development of hydrogen traction vehicles is currently the biggest opportunity for the decarbonization of the sector. They represent an excellent solution as they are a completely zero-emission alternative that can be operated on all existing routes, including non-electrified routes and sidings. Experts’ analyses point to the great potential of their application and their environmental and even economic attractiveness, assuming that the production and distribution costs of hydrogen (especially green hydrogen) will significantly decrease in the coming years. It is an alternative worth considering also due to dynamically growing prices of diesel fuel, coal, and electricity, the costs of which only in recent weeks have shown the highest growth rate in years.
Work on the construction of the first hydrogen locomotives began in 2002 in the United States, and the term “hydrail” (hydrogen railroad) was first used only a year later, in August 2003, during a conference organized by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Initially, work on projects in this area was carried out mainly in the States and Japan. In recent years, however, we have seen a dynamic increase in their number in Europe, all thanks to the Coradia iLint train.
Coradia iLint
The world’s first hydrogen passenger train. It was developed by Alstom and first presented in 2016 at InnoTrans in Berlin. The development of a regional train that is characterized by total zero-emission has become a real breakthrough in thinking about the use of fuel cell technology in rail public transport and has opened the way for its further development. According to Alstom, the Coradia iLint was developed by teams in Germany and France and was co-funded by the German government as part of the National Innovation Program for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology. Approximately €8 million was allocated to the project at the time.
The project is based on the company’s flagship train, the diesel-powered Coradia Lint 54. The hydrogen Coradia is a low-floor passenger train that Alstom says will combine innovations in clean energy conversion, flexible battery storage, and intelligent management of traction power and available energy. The train is designed to have a set of fuel cells and a hydrogen fuel tank on its roof. The lower part, in turn, is equipped with a traction motor, inverter, converter (AC/DC and DC/DC), auxiliary converter, and a set of batteries. In this way, thanks to the reaction of stored hydrogen with oxygen in fuel cells, electric energy is produced, which is then transferred to the traction drive. Excess energy from production or generated during braking is stored in lithium-ion batteries and then used when the train accelerates. The Coradia iLint enables a range of 1,000 km at a maximum speed of 140 km/h and can carry up to 300 passengers (150 seated and 150 standing) at a time. The most important advantages of the train are its low noise level and the fact that the only by-products generated during operation are steam and water.
The first test of the Coradia iLint was conducted in 2017, and just one year later the pilot introduction of the train on a passenger route in Lower Saxony took place. Since then, the Coradia iLint has been presented in more cities in Germany and other European countries, including Austria (September 2020) and Sweden (August 2021). The official debut of the Alstom hydrogen train in Poland took place on June 23, 2021, at the Railway Institute’s test track in Zmigrod near Wroclaw, where it was tested and presented to Polish stakeholders for two days.
Hydrogen railroad in Sakhalin, Russia
The growing need to use hydrogen for rail transport is also evident in Russia, where it has resulted in an extremely interesting project. In early September 2021, during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, approval was signed for the construction of the country’s first hydrogen railroad. The project is to be developed in the coming years on Sakhalin Island off the coast of Russia. The agreement involves Russian Railways (RZD) and the government of the Sakhalin Region, with Rosatom and Transmaszholding (TMH) to provide the technology. The former, which is a corporation bringing together enterprises and institutions in the field of nuclear energy, is said to be responsible for providing the infrastructure for hydrogen production and distribution. TMH, in turn, will design and produce a pre-series batch of seven freight trains and, soon, also passenger trains.
This is not the only project related to the development of the hydrogen railroad in Russia announced recently. Already at the end of May this year, Russian Railways announced a partnership with France’s SNCF to develop a hydrogen train. According to reports, the prepared development schedule was approved by Sergey Kobzev, deputy general director of Russian Railways, and Pierre Izard, director of technology, innovation, and group projects at SNCF. Over the next three years, the companies will cooperate in the areas of design, maintenance, and certification of emerging freight and passenger rolling stock. The most important goal of the cooperation is to secure the creation and application of new hydrogen technologies in rail transport, which are planned to contribute to achieving planned emission reductions in the Russian economy.
