Four years after starting a two-year operational trial in Germany, the Coradia iLint group of fuel cell hydrogen trains began passenger service on the 100% hydrogen route in Lower Saxony.

The passenger test, which began in September 2018 and lasted almost two years, included the successful operation of two pre-production Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell trains on an existing route operated by Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser (EVB).

The project has now officially entered public service and has expanded to include 14 trains developed by Alstom engineers at the regional railway factory in Salzgitter, Germany, and the traction systems center in Tarbes, France. They were acquired by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Transport and are non-diesel-only (hydrogen fuel cell or battery electric) trains that began looking for alternatives to diesel locomotives in 2012.

Emitting only steam and condensate and having a range of 1,000 km (~620 miles), each train is expected to run on a full day’s tank of hydrogen on the route between Cuxhaven, Bremerhave, Bremerwerde and Buxtehude. Speeds on the EVB network are reported to be between 80 and 120 km/h, but trains can reach speeds of up to 140 km/h.

Each will be filled daily at Linde’s hydrogen filling station in Bremerverde, which houses 64 high-pressure tanks (500 bar), six compressors and two fuel pumps. Future plans call for on-site hydrogen production through “electrolysis and regenerative power generation.”

According to the EVB, five of the Coradia iLints are currently operational, the rest are planned to join the fleet by the end of 2022, replacing the 15 diesel trains running on the network, saving approximately 1.6 million liters of diesel fuel and 4,400 tons of CO2. per year.

“This project is a role model for the whole world,” said Stefan Weil, Prime Minister of Lower Saxony. “This is a great example of a successful transformation of ‘Made in Lower Saxony’. As a country that uses renewable energy sources, we are setting a milestone on the road to climate neutrality in the transportation sector.”

Alstom’s plans for hydrogen trains are not limited to Lower Saxony, the company has also signed a contract to supply 27 Coradia iLint hydrogen trains to the Frankfurt metropolitan area, as well as six Coradia Stream hydrogen trains to Lombardy, Italy, as well as a dozen hydrogen trains. Coradia Polyvant makes hydrogen trains to various parts of France. The company also conducted operational tests in Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria.