If India has one of the largest railway networks on the planet, more than 30,000 kilometers of roads are unlocked. Therefore, diesel trains that participate in CO2 emissions in the country circulate.
The authorities point to carbon neutrality on the railroad. To get there, the hydrogen train was emphasized through the “Hydrogen for heritage” program. And with a little more than a year late, Ashwini Vahnaaw, the railroad minister, announces “to soon” the start -up of the first train in a line of 89 kilometers, between Jind and Sonpat, in the north of the country, now that the test phase is completed.
The train is at the giant country level. It has ten cars, towed by a locomotive of 1,200 horsepower and will transport up to 2,600 passengers per day. Therefore, it will become the longest hydrogen and the most powerful train on the planet, according to the minister.
To carry out its strategy, India is betting on the comments of existing diesel trains, that is, the passage of thermal propulsion to an electrical propulsion with hydrogen battery and not in the purchase of new equipment.
Ultimately, 35 oars of hydrogen must circulate in different non -electrified lines in the country.
It remains to be seen if this train will meet its goals. I only look at Germany, at the forefront of this issue, to realize that technology is not yet completely to the point.
Difficult start in Germany
A fleet of 14 regional trains Coradia Ilint D’Astom for the Saxe Basse region has experienced operational difficulties last year. Trains’ performance is less than expectations with recurring failures that result in long and fixed trains, particularly due to the lack of availability of parts.
The same for Mirao Plus H trains produced by Siemens mobility that circulates in the Berlin region. After a little more than 15 days of operation, the line was suspended, hydrogen trains stop. In question, problems in fuel refueling.
The hydrogen train is a young, still fallible, but promising technology. It represents one of the most serious roads (with batteries or batteries/diesel trains) to replace diesel trains, the CO2 transmitter, to drive in lines without letters that are still numerous: 50% in Europe, 40% in France, essentially regional.
France, Italy, Sweden and even Quebec have ordered hydrogen trains in Alstom, operators that need more and more trains to meet demand and more and more green trains. In France, 12 oars were ordered For the Burgoundy-French-Compé, Occitanie, Grand Est and Auverne-Rhône-Alpes regions.
In Germany, Alstom and Siemens therefore learn to walk, convinced that these failures will be so accumulated experience for future deployments.
Source: BFM TV
