Siemens to develop hydrogen train technology

Siemens Energy and Siemens Mobility have signed a deal to jointly develop and offer hydrogen systems for trains.

The project aims at jointly developing holistic hydrogen solutions for rail transport and offering them to customers to promote the hydrogen economy in Germany and Europe and support decarbonization in the mobility sector.

Siemens Energy is no longer part of the Siemens Group since its spin-off and public listing on September 28, 2020.

However, Siemens AG is still the largest shareholder of Siemens Energy.

Armin Schnettler, Siemens Energy executive vice president, new energy business, said: “The decarbonization of energy systems is a central goal of Siemens Energy.

“So-called sector coupling plays a key role here – interconnecting previously separate energy-relevant sectors such as electricity and heat generation or mobility.

“This can be achieved – completely CO2-free – with the electrolysis of water using electricity produced from renewable energy sources.

“Working together with Siemens Mobility, we want to drive sector coupling by developing, among other things, an electrolysis and fueling solution for the fast fueling of hydrogen-powered trains.”

Albrecht Neumann, Siemens Mobility chief executive of rolling stock, said the cooperation with Siemens Energy paves the way for customers to replace their diesel-powered trains operating on non-electrified rail lines with emission-free hydrogen-powered trains over the longer term.

He said: “Together with Siemens Energy, we can even offer hydrogen as a ‘hydrogen as a service’ model for a train’s service life.”

Siemens Energy and Siemens Mobility plan to jointly develop a standardized hydrogen infrastructure solution for fueling the hydrogen-powered trains of Siemens Mobility and later expand the solution in pilot projects and specific customer projects.