Russia: Oleg Chikirkin, Chief Engineer of the Traction Directorate of Russian Railways (RZD), spoke at a meeting of RZD’s Joint Scientific Council held in December 2023 about hydrogen locomotives to be developed soon, according to Gudok.
He reportedly said: “It was decided to develop shunting locomotives closer to the centre of our country. We now understand their technical characteristics and specifications. <…> And the first prototype four-axle locomotive must be developed in 2025”.
According to Oleg Chikirkin, the Moscow section of the railway network will require 48 eight-axle locomotives and 15 four-axle hydrogen locomotives. They are expected to operate at three marshalling yards.
Gudok quotes VNIKTI, a Russian research and development institute for rolling stock, as saying that the project of the first hydrogen shunting locomotive with an expected nominal power of 360 kW is being developed on the basis of the TEM10 locomotive. This diesel locomotive was certified and put into serial production by Sinara– Transport Machines (STM) in 2020. The TEMG1 gas locomotive is also produced on the same base. In the summer of 2021, RZD, STM, and Rusnano signed an agreement for the development of hybrid locomotives that will run on hydrogen and battery power. Last year, STM unveiled an updated design of the TEM10 locomotive (pictured).
In the spring of 2023, VNIIZhT, the railway research institute of RZD, reported that a hydrogen locomotive was also being designed by the Engineering Centre of Railway Transport, jointly established by RZD and STM. VNIIZhT itself is working on a hydrogen laboratory car, and a so-called “hydrogen cluster” is being formed at its experimental loop to research hydrogen traction. At the same time, Gudok writes that the question of developing Russian hydrogen fuel cells is still open.
