UK to fast-track Hydrogen train production?

[wirewiper]

Alsthom and Eversholt Rail have announced a plan to invest a further £1million into developing the new Class 600 "Breeze" train. 

Currently UK rail travel is fast losing its reputation as a low-carbon means of travel, due to the significant lengths of non-electrified track and the extensive use of diesel traction, even over electrified lines. 

Alsthom has already proved the success of hydrogen trains as a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solution in Germany with its Coradia iLint. It is developing the Breeze to be ready for swift deployment over routes where electrification is deemed impractical or too visually-intrusive. The Breeze would be built at Alsthom's Widnes Transport Technology Centre, which would create over 200 high-quality engineering jobs in the North West and would square with the Government's "Green Recovery" agenda. Alsthom and Eversholt Rail are hopeful that the UK Government will commit to upgrading the UK's railways with hydrogen trains. 

www.focustransport.org/2020/08/eversholt-rail-and-alstom-invest.html


 

[wirewiper]

In the meantime, the first hydrogen-powered train was tested on the UK rail network yesterday (Wednesday 30th September).

Porterbrook and the University of Birmingham have converted a class 319 unit to hydrogen power. Renumbered 799 001 and named HydroFLEX, the train started its test run at Long Marston in Warwickshire and operated over the North Cotswold Line between Oxford and Hereford. Grant Shapps MP, the Transport Secretary, was aboard the train and hopes that hydrogen trains will start taking fare-paying passengers in 2023.

Porterbrook has announced its plans to put HydroFLEX into production. The production versions will carry an underfloor-mounted hydrogen and battery module which will maximise the capacity of the passenger areas. The production versions will also be bi-mode and will retain their existing electrical power, which will make them an attractive, flexible and low-cost replacement for diesel trains in areas which are partially electrified.

www.focustransport.org/2020/10/hydrogen-train-takes-to-tracks-in-uk.html

[wirewiper]

There is also a rival hydrogen train on the Continent. The Coradia iLint is already in service in Germany, and has been successfully tested on the diesel-operated lines in the Province of Groningen in The Netherlands.

www.focustransport.org/2018/09/hydrogen-train-enters-enters-service.html

www.focustransport.org/2020/10/trial-runs-of-alstoms-hydrogen-train-in.html