Train manufacturer Alstom has received the European Railway Award for their Coradia iLint hydrogen train project.
The train, commissioned by Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) was nominated by a jury of railway industry CEOs, EU decision-makers, previous winners and selected journalists.
Between September 2018 and Februaru 2020, over 180,000 km of passenger service was completed by the two Coradia iLint trains by Alstom.
A hydrogen filling station is being built in Germany for the trains and Fourteen of the trains are now in production for regular service in Germany starting in 2022.
“It is not a matter of course that a public authority triggers and accompanies a technological development of this scope. With our partners in the test phase, a real-world premiere in passenger service in Lower Saxony has been achieved,” said Carmen Schwabl, Managing Director of LNVG. “Our goal was to offer a true alternative to diesel, to make it market-ready and to use it in a first network in daily passenger operation.”
“We are very pleased that our client LNVG has been awarded for the innovative hydrogen train project. Our joint project Coradia iLint shows a courageous commitment to green mobility together with state-of-the-art technology. Today, we can be very proud of our innovative Coradia Ilint, the world's first and only existing hydrogen train,” said Gian Luca Erbacci, Senior Vice President Europe at Alstom.
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96% of world hydrogen production comes from fossil fuels. 1 ton of hydrogen production releases around 12 tons of carbon dioxide. Source: Wikipedia.
Hydrogen trains are not environmentally benign unless all of their fuel comes from renewable sources.
The Class 175 Coradia which Alstom have built and manufactured could possibly be capable of converting into Hydrogen MU rather than scrapping them. As Transport for Wales are replacing them with the Class 197 Civity units. And if the Class 458/5 DC units that are to be replaced by the Class 701 “Arterio” units that South Western Railway have ordered. The Class 458 could also be capable for conversion to Hydrogen units.