Stadler Rail will deliver four hydrogen trains to California. Bussnang’s group on Tuesday signed a statement of intent on the matter with the California State Transportation Agency and the California Department of Transportation.
In 2019, Stadler had already delivered a hydrogen-powered Flirt trainset to a Californian customer, the San Bernardino County Transit Authority (SBCTA). The “Flirt H2”, which was presented on Tuesday in Berlin at the InnoTrans fair, will enter passenger service in 2024 and will be the first of its kind in the United States.
The use of this technology has been on the rise for several years now. The French Alstom will run 14 hydrogen trains in northern Germany this year, some of which have been in service for 4 years already.
Stadler’s train can travel regarding 600 kilometers, but Alstom has just set a record by managing to travel 1175 kilometers without refueling with a train of this type.
An alternative technology
This technology is a good alternative for lines that cannot be electrified, for cost reasons or because of unfavorable terrain. However, the American rail network is hardly electrified, which offers good prospects for development.
And Pascal Quentin, commercial director at Stadler, notes in La Matinale de la RTS that “even in Europe, there are many large European countries with networks that have more than 50% of the lines, and in particular the secondary lines, which do not are not electrified”.
Radio subject: Blandine Milcent
Adaptation web: cab
