In Germany, the worldʼs first fleet of passenger trains running on hydrogen was launched. Previously, 15 diesel trains ran on non-electrified tracks in Lower Saxony.
The Associated Press writes about it.
The new trains were manufactured by the French company Alstom. They work on electricity — they use hydrogen fuel cells for its production. There are 14 such trains, they run on routes between the northern cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremerfjord and Buxtehude.
Alstom says the Coradia iLint trains have a range of up to 1 000 kilometers and a top speed of 140 kmph. Thanks to hydrogen produced from renewable energy, the trains will save 1.6 million liters of diesel fuel per year.
Hydrogen is currently produced as a by-product of chemical processes, but German specialty gas company Linde plans to produce it locally and use only renewable energy within three years.