Germany: The vehicle will be undergoing trials at the steel plant of the Salzgitter Group to this October. The conversion to hydrogen was enabled by retrofitting of a diesel locomotive, with the news first appeared back in 2022.
Alstom’s official announcement says the locomotive’s propulsion system entails combustion of hydrogen, meaning the use of internal combustion engine. Similar solution can be found in RS Zero rail busses by Stadler. At the same time, the trial operation will result in the vehicle’s reverse conversion to diesel.
The project is a part of Salzgitter Group’s programme to decrease CO2 emissions, supported by the state of Lower Saxony, which is contributing funding totalling € 1.5 mln. Alstom says, such conversion of diesel locomotives to hydrogen traction allows reducing 3,000 t of CO2 emissions per a locomotive’s 15–20-year service life.
The first attempts to convert a shunter to hydrogen traction was implemented in the USA in 2007–2009. At that time, the locomotive was fitted with fuel cells and Li-Ion batteries. The vehicle was in trial operation until 2014, and in 2023, it was donated to the museum. Later, similar projects to retrofit locomotives to hydrogen propulsion were implemented in many countries such as China, the USA, Canada, Italy, the UK, Poland, Russia, etc.
At the same time, Alstom is often reprimanded for unreliance of its hydrogen passenger trains Coradia iLint in Germany.
