Alstom completes hydrogen train trials

After 530 days and more than 18,000 kilometres two Alstom Coradia iLint ­hydrogen trains are almost ready to go into commercial operation in Germany.

Trials of the two trains began in September 2018 and concluded in late February prior to 14 Coradia iLint series trains replacing existing diesel multiple units from 2022 on regional transport operator LNVG’s network in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Alstom will produce the fuel cell trains and will also be responsible for the maintenance of the vehicles at its site in Salgitter.

A hydrogen filling station will also be constructed by industrial gas company Linde which will support the series of trains near Bremervoerde station.

Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economics and Transport, Dr Bernd Althusmann said “Alstom has made hydrogen history here. The project is of a great importance to industrial policy that goes far beyond Germany. Here, we are witnessing the first competitive product of hydrogen mobility at industrial level.”