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In addition to transport, Deutsche Bahn is also seeking to develop and test hydrogen rail infrastructure. To this end, it is redeveloping one of its maintenance facilities to serve as a refueling and maintenance station for the train.
The company plans to create hydrogen through electrolysis, using electricity to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen. Although this process is completely green (depending on the source of electricity), it is very inefficient compared to modern BEV (battery electric vehicle) technology. The transport and storage of hydrogen is also expensive.
However, hydrogen trains have been tested successfully and are rapidly gaining ground in parts of Europe. As it stands, Alstrom already operates a commercial hydrogen train service in Austria and has also carried out successful trials in the Netherlands. In addition, Alstom’s Coradia iLint hydrogen trains have successfully completed German tests and have been in regional passenger service in Germany since 2018.
The 2024 testing is more important, however, as DB is a national carrier and a successful test is key to its carbon neutrality plans. Currently, it operates 1,300 diesel trains in regional service and 40% of its 33,000 km rail network is unelectrified, the company noted. “We need to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels to zero,” said Sabina Jeschke, DB board member. “Only then can DB be climate neutral by 2050. At this point, we will no longer have a single diesel train in service in our fleet.”
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