This regional train only emits steam and condensed water while operating with a low level of noise. The 14 vehicles with fuel cell propulsion belong to Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG). LNVG had already started looking for alternatives to diesel trains in 2012 and thus provided momentum for the development of the trains in Germany.
Other project partners for this world debut are Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, the Elbe-Weser railways and transport company (evb), and the gas and engineering company Linde.
The trains will be fuelled daily and around the clock at the Linde hydrogen filling station. The company’s refuelling system, which it built, owns and operates, will refuel the 14 hydrogen-powered passenger trains, enabling each train to run for 1,000km, emission free, on a single refuelling.
Linde’s system has a total capacity of around 1,600kg of hydrogen per day, making it one of the largest hydrogen refuelling systems ever built. It has been designed and constructed with the ability to integrate future on-site green hydrogen generation.
“Linde is committed to making a significant contribution towards decarbonising transport in Europe,” said Veerle Slenders, President Region Europe West, Linde. “We are proud that Linde’s innovative technology plays a key role in supporting this project and establishing a blueprint for cleaner public transport systems around the world.”
On the route between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude, 14 hydrogen-powered Alstom regional trains will be operated by evb on behalf of LNVG, gradually replacing 15 diesel ones.
In September 2018, there had been a successful trial run of almost two years with two pre-series trains.
Despite numerous electrification projects in several countries, a significant part of Europe’s rail network will remain non-electrified in the long term. In many countries, the number of diesel trains in circulation is still high, with more than 4,000 cars in Germany, for instance.
Alstom currently has four contracts for hydrogen fuel cell powered regional trains. Two are in Germany, the first for 14 Coradia iLint trains in the region of Lower Saxony, and the second for 27 Coradia iLint trains in the Frankfurt metropolitan area. The third contract comes from Italy where Alstom is building 6 Coradia Stream hydrogen trains in the region of Lombardy – with the option for eight more, while the fourth is in France for 12 Coradia Polyvalent hydrogen trains shared across four different French regions.
Furthermore, the Coradia iLint has been successfully tested in Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden – to name a few.
“Emission-free mobility is one of the most important goals for ensuring a sustainable future and Alstomhas a clear ambition to become the world leader in alternative propulsion systems for rail.
“The world’s first hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint, demonstrates our clear commitment to green mobility combined with state-of-the-art technology. We are very proud to bring this technology into series operation as part of a world premiere, together with our great partners,” says Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Alstom.