Germany inaugurated the world’s first fleet of hydrogen trains

Germany inaugurated a railway line this Wednesday it will run entirely on hydrogena “world first” and a turning point to decarbonise rail transport, beyond the difficulty of accessing this new technology.

A fleet of 14 trains, sold by the French group Alstom to the Lower Saxony region (north), it will replace the current diesel locomotives to cover the 100 km of the line connecting the cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehud, near Hamburg.

“We are very proud to be able to do this commercially exploit this technologythis is a world first, “Alstom president Henri Poupart-Lafarge said Wednesday.

Hydrogen trains are a prime track for reduce CO2 emissionsand replace diesel, which continues to power 20% of rail travel in Germany.

Alstom trains combine the hydrogen stored on board with the oxygen present in the air, thanks to a fuel cell, which produces the electricity necessary to ensure the traction of the train.

Costs

The new fleet, which cost “93 million euros” (92.3 million dollars), will avoid generating “4,400 tons of CO2 every year,” according to the LNVG, which manages the network at the regional level.

Designed in the French city of Tarbes and assembled in Salzgitter in central Germany, these trains have been commercially tested since 2018, two of which run regularly.

Alstom has already signed four contracts for the delivery of dozens of trains in Germany, France and Italy and demand continues to grow.

Only in Germany, “between 2,500 and 3,000 diesel trains could be replaced by hydrogen trainsStefan Scharank, project leader at Alstom, told AFP.

“In 2035, between 15 and 20% of the European regional route market could run on hydrogen”, confirms Alexandre Charpentier, railway expert at the Roland Berger consultancy firm to AFP.

Alstom’s competitors have also entered this market. The German group Siemens presented in May a model train in collaboration with the railway company Deutsche Bahn, with a view to commissioning in 2024.

But beyond these beautiful prospects, “there are real barriers”warns the expert.

Problems

And it is not just trains that are looking for hydrogen, but the entire transport sector, by road or plane, as well as the heavy industry – steel and chemical -, which has this technology to reduce CO2 emissions.

With its announcement in 2020 of an investment plan of 7,000 million euross, Germany has an ambition to lead hydrogen technology within a decade.

However, both here and throughout Europe, there is a lack of the necessary infrastructure for production or transport, which will require colossal investments.

“That is why we do not see that 100% of diesel trains will be replaced by hydrogen trains,” comments consultant Charpentier.

Secondly, hydrogen is not necessarily free of carbon. Only green hydrogen, produced from renewable energies, is considered sustainable.

At the same time there are other more common production methods, but they emit greenhouse gases, as they are based on fossil fuels.

Evidence of the scarcity of the product is that the Lower Saxony line will initially use hydrogen resulting from the activity of other industries, such as chemicals.

The French research institute IFP, which specializes in energy issues, explains that currently hydrogen “95% derives from the transformation of fossil energies”and almost half comes from the transformation of natural gas.

A double problem, due to the pollution caused by the use of gas, and to the difficulties in supplying this fossil raw material in Europe, largely dependent on Russian gas which has become a political weapon with the war in Ukraine.

“Political decisions should be given priority to which sector does the production of hydrogen go or not“, underlined the consultant Charpentier.

Furthermore, Germany will have to purchase this resource abroad to meet its own needs. On Tuesday, Berlin signed an agreement with Toronto to import renewable hydrogen produced in Canada starting in 2025.

AFP agency

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