Lower Saxony, in the German federal state of Germany, has become the location of the world’s first passenger rail network to be powered by hydrogen over four years after the beginning of experimental operations.
The local transport authority of Lower Saxony, which goes by the acronym LNVG, was cited by the Xinhua news agency on Wednesday as stating that the 14 trains with hydrogen fuel cell drives built by French company Alstom are going to replace diesel trains.
Already in service are five of the brand new trains, and the other ones will join them by the time the year comes to a close.
Stephan Weil, Minister President of Lower Saxony, referred to this endeavour as a “role model internationally” in his remarks. Because we are a state that relies heavily on renewable energy sources, we are making significant strides toward achieving carbon neutrality in the transportation sector.
According to the LNVG, throughout the two years that the trial operations took place, two pre-series trains “operated without any difficulties.”
The overall price tag for the renovation is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 93 million euros.
Alstom said in a statement that the emission-free hydrogen fuel cell trains known as the Coradia iLint have a range of 1,000 kilometres, which enables them to “operate all day long on only one tank of hydrogen.”
According to the LNVG, the trains will be able to save 1.6 million gallons of fuel each year, which will result in a reduction of CO2 emissions of 4,400 tonnes annually.
The fastest that the train can go is 190 miles per hour (or 140 kilometres per hour).
LNVG spokeswoman Dirk Altwig told Xinhua that the company does not intend to purchase any further diesel trains in the foreseeable future.
The following outdated diesel trains now in service will need to be replaced. The corporation has not yet made a decision about whether or not it would run trains fueled by hydrogen or batteries.
When compared to levels in 1990, Germany’s goal is to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 65 percent by the year 2030.
A neutral impact on the environment should be achieved by 2045, which is five years sooner than was first envisaged.
