Hydrogen-powered train will be tested in Netherlands
For the first time in the Netherlands, Alstom plans to test the Coradia iLint train, the world’s first passenger hydrogen-powered rail vehicle. The two-week trials will be performed on the line between Groningen and Leeuwarden. They are expected to take place during the first quarter of 2020.
Alstom will carry out the testings of the Coradia iLint train together with its partners: the Province of Groningen, local operator Arriva, the Dutch rail infrastructure manager ProRail and the energy company Engie. The respective agreement was signed on 31 October at the Climate Summit Northern Netherlands which took place in Groningen.
The project is aimed to demonstrate that the hydrogen-powered trains could provide zero-emission rail traffic on non-electrified lines in the Netherlands. Around 1,000 kilometres of non-electrified tracks are being used in the Netherlands. Therefore, the new type of rolling stock will be valuable for the Dutch provinces, especially for Groningen where several non-electrified routes are located.
Coradia iLint
Alstom has developed the Coradia iLint hydrogen-powered train on the basis of the Coradia Lint diesel vehicles. The latter are very popular across Europe on the regional non-electrified routes. The prototype of Coradia iLint train was produced at Alstom’s plant in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, in March 2017.
Less in a year, in September 2018, the vehicle was introduced into regular service by the Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser (EVB), a regional rail operator in Lower Saxony. EVB ordered 14 hydrogen-powered trains to be supplied by 2021. Also, 27 hydrogen-powered trains will run on the non-electrified routes in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area. Alstom will fulfil this order by the end of 2022.
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