A hydrogen fuel cell train has begun transporting passengers in Germany. It is more environmentally friendly, quieter and more expensive than a diesel train.
Coradia iLint trains are the development of French engineers from Alstom. For the first time, the creators presented them at the InnoTrans exhibition in Berlin in 2016. Two trains now run on a 100-kilometer track between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremerferde and Buxtehude in northern Germany. The trains will be fueled with hydrogen at the station in Bremerferd. The opening ceremony took place there.
The trains are painted blue and can accommodate 300 passengers. The fuel cells in the Coradia iLint generate electricity by reacting hydrogen and oxygen together. This produces only water and steam. The excess energy is stored in the lithium ion batteries installed in the train. All onboard systems and electric motors are powered from them. Coradia iLint can travel about 1000 kilometers on one hydrogen tank. The speed that a train can reach is 140 kilometers per hour, which is equal to the speed of conventional diesel trains.
Under the contract, Alstom is to send 14 more trains to Lower Saxony by 2021. However, other German states are also interested in getting environmentally friendly transport. The company is positioning its trains as a greener and quieter alternative to diesel vehicles on non-electrified rail lines. For many German cities trying to tackle air pollution, Coradia iLint looks very attractive. The only drawback of these trains is their cost and the cost of maintaining gas stations. So far, diesel fueling is much cheaper than hydrogen filling. And the cost of the Coradia iLint itself is higher than conventional trains.
However, according to Stefan Schrank, project management manager at Alstom, while hydrogen trains are more expensive than diesel ones, they are less expensive to maintain. How exactly, Shrank did not explain. Alstom also said that other countries, namely Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Canada, as well as Germany, are interested in hydrogen trains. This means that the company may have large orders. As for France, the launch of the first hydrogen trains there will take place no earlier than 2022.
Interior view of the Coradia iLint car.
In 2015, the world saw a hydrogen tramway built by the Chinese industrial company CSR Sifang. It runs on hydrogen batteries and takes three minutes to charge. This should be enough for 100 kilometers at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour.
Ksenia Murasheva
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