On 16 October 2018, the world’s first two environmentally friendly hydrogen trains began providing passenger service in Germany. A prototype of the new train model, called Coradia iLint, was first introduced at InnoTrans 2016 in Berlin, an International Trade Fair for Transport Technology. Now, just two years later, the first two trains operate commercially.
On 16 October 2018, the world’s first two environmentally friendly hydrogen trains, began providing passenger service in Germany. Photo courtesy of Alstom.com. www.walled-in-berlin.com
For now, the Coradia iLint trains operate on a 62-mile rail stretch between the northern German towns of Cuxhaven and Buxtehude and can travel up to 87 miles/hour. They have a range of up to 600 miles without refueling, which is similar to that of diesel trains according to Shawn Litster, professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/17/germany-launches-worlds-first-hydrogen-powered-train
How Hydrogen trains work
Hydrogen trains are equipped with fuel cells that produce electricity via chemical reactions between hydrogen and oxygen. The process leaves steam and water as the only emissions. Ion lithium batteries store the excess electricity on board until it is needed. The Coradia trains are considered zero-emissions vehicles because they release only water and steam. Diesel-powered train, on the other hand, emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that can lead to a variety of health problems.
Who builds hydrogen trains?
The Coradia iLint was designed and built by the French railroad company Alstrom. Teams in Salzgitter, Germany, and in Tarbes, France, cooperated on the project. The undertaking received support from the German government as part of the National Innovation Program for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology.
Hydrogen trains and the environment
Hydrogen technology ushers in a long-awaited era of moving away from polluting diesel trains and closer to clean energy. Although hydrogen trains cost more to build than diesel trains, they are less expensive to operate, partly because hydrogen fuel is relatively easy to produce. Anything that can generate electricity can also generate hydrogen. That means that wind farms, solar farms, dams and natural gas –renewable energy sources – can be used to produce hydrogen.
Alstom plans to deliver an additional 14 hydrogen trains to Germany by 2021. France expects its first hydrogen train to be up and running by 2022. Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway have also expressed an interest in developing hydrogen train systems.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
