Hydrogen train network goes live in Germany

[Hydrogen]

In the German state of Lower Saxony, the world’s first network with hydrogen fuel cell trains in passenger service has now gone into operation. On the route between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude, 14 hydrogen-powered Coradia iLint regional trains are now in operation, replacing 15 diesel trains.

The operation is carried out by Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser (evb) on behalf of the public transport operator Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG). The order for the 14 Coradia iLints was placed back in 2017, and the first two were already in service on the route between Cuxhaven and Buxtehude in September 2018. At that time, however, they were still pre-series trains.

This week, the complete fleet of 14 Coradia iLint trains in series trim has now gone into passenger service, and the project has a total volume of over 93 million euros to date. “This project is a role model worldwide, it is an excellent example of a successful transformation Made in Lower Saxony,” says Minister President Stephan Weil. “As a state of renewable energies, we are thus setting a milestone on the path to climate neutrality in the transport sector.”

A hydrogen filling station was built in Bremervörde for the H2 trains, which is operated by Linde. The facility has a storage capacity of 1,800 kilograms of hydrogen, distributed over 64 500-bar high-pressure storage tanks. Six hydrogen compressors supply the two dispensers where the trains can refuel with hydrogen around the clock. For the time being, the hydrogen will be supplied, later it will be produced on site by means of electrolysis and regeneratively generated electricity – corresponding expansion areas for this plant are available.

Since the trains have a range of 1,000 kilometres with one tank of hydrogen, they can cover their daily mileage without a refuelling stop – which takes place once a day outside operating hours. In this way, 1.6 million litres of diesel should no longer be consumed per year.

The state subsidiary LNVG had already started looking for alternatives to diesel trains in 2012. The company still operates 126 diesel trains, but according to Carmen Schwabl, spokesperson for the LNVG management, it does not want to buy any more new diesel vehicles. Because of the early commitment to H2 technology, Schwabl is convinced that they “have thus given an impulse to the development of hydrogen trains in Germany”. “We are also convinced that diesel trains will no longer be economical to operate in the future. We are pleased to have now reached another milestone with our partners Linde and Alstom as well as evb,” says the LNVG Managing Director.

“Emission free mobility is one of the most important goals for ensuring a sustainable future and Alstom has 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, Chairman and CEO of Alstom.

https://www.electrive.com/2022/08/25/hydrogen-train-network-goes-live-in-germany/

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It seems that plans to pursue a hydrogen based economy are gaining steam in europe (no pun intended).

The project so far is said to have costed $93 million. It is interesting that they plan to generate hydrogen fuel on site. Which should save dramatically on fuel shipping costs. The pro versus cons of on site fuel generation rather than a dedicated location could make for an interesting topic. Hydrogen fuel generated by steam reformation versus electrolysis could be yet another hot topic in the coming years. The article mentions that hydrogen will be generated on site through regenerative methods. Which would seem to imply energy scavenging of some type. Not much in the way of details, unfortunately.

The united states has lagged behind the rest of the world on new developments like high speed rail. I doubt there is much hope of hydrogen fueled trains in a native setting.

[dothebeats]

The current oil crisis in Europe is forcing a lot of brilliant minds to re-think of the problem and actually give some solution to it. Hydrogen is still a very tricky fuel source considering that you don't have it abundantly available in a natural setting, so it's good that they found a way to generate it efficiently on site. Naturally, what you need are some fuel stations to lessen the operations on-site, and to eliminate a chain of reaction should something go bad on the fuel processing site. But if it works and it works well, that's pretty good. Europe needs its trains to be fully operational as it remains to be the most effective way of transporting goods around the continent, and with the current issue with Russia and its oil, it's great that they got off to a rolling start.

[jackg]

It's sad there's no much by way of details from how the hydrogen is actually produced (and what is done with the waste products) as that might decide whether it's actually a greener alternative or not.

Producing hydrogen from (hydrocarbon) cracking probably isn't even a bad place to start as long as the waste is also in demand/useful - most intensive processes rely on shorter chains too.

Electrolysis from renewables might be a far goal for them too but not one too far away.


I hope this isn't like Germany's idea of getting rid of nuclear power plants though (replacing something green(ish) with something that looks greener and then switching to something worse if it doesn't work).

[DrBeer]

Now any technology that will reduce dependence on oil and gas will be developed and financed by 1000%! The world has realized that such resources as oil and gas can become a real weapon, a weapon of economic terrorism!

No need to destroy cities, kill thousands of people, produce mountains of weapons! Just monopolize the country's energy market, and then terrorize this country by cutting off supplies, under any invented pretext! And if they don’t agree, turn off supplies and watch how their economy collapses, people stop receiving such familiar services en masse! Then a riot in the country, a change of power to one loyal to a terrorist - and that's it, your country! And this can be done not with one country, but with entire groups of countries!

That is why, one country that decided to "bring the whole of Europe to its knees" became the catalyst for the development and implementation of alternative technologies that replace gas and oil. And these decisions are just a matter of time, and short enough, which pleases!

[Jaksjol675]

Hydrogen-powered trains could eventually replace several thousand with diesel engines trains. Hydrogen trains are particularly attractive on short regional lines where the cost of a transition to electric outstrips the profitability of the route.

[NeuroticFish]

A hydrogen filling station was built in Bremervörde for the H2 trains, which is operated by Linde. The facility has a storage capacity of

[~snip~]
It is interesting that they plan to generate hydrogen fuel on site.

I didn't find any reference to generating the H2 in-place, they seem to only store and transfer it.
----

However, it may be a quite normal development in the current days. With so many means of regenerable energy produced, but which is not reliable 24/7, with the lack of solutions to store that energy or use it in grid continuously, I guess that it's not a bad direction to use it used for producing H2 (and that may be what the article was referring to).

[lumbanrang]

For now building a Hydrogrene based project is quite expensive and uneconomical compared to other energies. However, if many companies want to build infrastructure and develop Hydrogen energy, I think that this will reduce costs and make Hydrogen an alternative energy in addition to other renewable energy.

[Hydrogen]

A hydrogen filling station was built in Bremervörde for the H2 trains, which is operated by Linde. The facility has a storage capacity of

[~snip~]
It is interesting that they plan to generate hydrogen fuel on site.

I didn't find any reference to generating the H2 in-place, they seem to only store and transfer it.

4th paragraph down:

A hydrogen filling station was built in Bremervörde for the H2 trains, which is operated by Linde. The facility has a storage capacity of 1,800 kilograms of hydrogen, distributed over 64 500-bar high-pressure storage tanks. Six hydrogen compressors supply the two dispensers where the trains can refuel with hydrogen around the clock. For the time being, the hydrogen will be supplied, later it will be produced on site by means of electrolysis and regeneratively generated electricity – corresponding expansion areas for this plant are available.

Steam reformation and electrolysis appear to be the two main competing methods of generating hydrogen fuel.

They say they will produce hydrogen "regeneratively" which appears to imply energy scavenging of some type. Regenerative braking?

It could be a world's first. I don't know of anyone who opted for on site hydrogen fuel generation. It will be interesting to see what they came up with.

[NeuroticFish]

later it will be produced on site by means of electrolysis and regeneratively generated electricity

Oh, thanks, I've missed that bit.

They say they will produce hydrogen "regeneratively" which appears to imply energy scavenging of some type. Regenerative braking?

It could be a world's first. I don't know of anyone who opted for on site hydrogen fuel generation. It will be interesting to see what they came up with.

It is indeed interesting. Regenerative braking and other means of scavenging energy as electricity would do better in a similar way as hybrid cars do, i.e. having also an electrical engine that can run now and then. Transporting that and transforming it back into H2 is pretty much a waste imho. But really I don't know what they have in mind, I'm out of ideas/scenarios.

[Gyfts]

The project so far is said to have costed $93 million. It is interesting that they plan to generate hydrogen fuel on site. Which should save dramatically on fuel shipping costs. The pro versus cons of on site fuel generation rather than a dedicated location could make for an interesting topic. Hydrogen fuel generated by steam reformation versus electrolysis could be yet another hot topic in the coming years. The article mentions that hydrogen will be generated on site through regenerative methods. Which would seem to imply energy scavenging of some type. Not much in the way of details, unfortunately.

The united states has lagged behind the rest of the world on new developments like high speed rail. I doubt there is much hope of hydrogen fueled trains in a native setting.

93 million USD spent on this project not including future maintenance costs and upkeep. The projected ROI is what, exactly?

Could be calculated in two ways: Produces energy more cheaply than oil/gas (we all know this isn't true, strike this immediately).

Alternatively: If the ROI for energy savings is negative, the investment could be recouped by the projected savings in climate change expenditures associated with rising temperatures. The problem with Germany's grand plan is that their individual climate change efforts will do nothing to stop global rise in temperatures. This has always been the issue.

They should use this money and burn it for this coming winter. I think they'd get more usage out of it this way.

[Hydrogen]

93 million USD spent on this project not including future maintenance costs and upkeep. The projected ROI is what, exactly?

Their proposal includes generating hydrogen fuel on site. I would guess that is where the majority of the spending was budgeted. To get ROI you would need to subtract long term diesel fuel costs from 93 million as a long term investment towards self sustainability.

I think steam reformation generation of hydrogen fuel is a large industrial process too big to be self contained near a train station. They opted for electrolysis instead. Which requires only electricity, water tanks, collection and compressors. We'll have to wait until more details become available to have a clearer picture of how things are implemented.

The united states by contrast is known to spend many billions of dollars on high speed rail projects which have yet to materialize. 93 million is a bargain in contrast to what it would cost if it were implemented in the USA.