Deutsche Bahn wants to operate its network in a climate-neutral manner by 2050. This ambitious goal is also to be achieved with the help of hydrogen trains. For the project, the group agreed a test run with Siemens. Tests with hybrid locomotives are also planned.
Deutsche Bahn wants to improve its carbon footprint with battery and hydrogen trains as early as 2024. In order to realize the plans, the group has entered into a cooperation with Siemens. As the partners announced, an electric regional multiple unit with fuel cells will go into trial operation in the Tübingen area in Baden-Württemberg in just two to three years. Accordingly, the Siemens train should have a range of 600 kilometers.
"The climate-friendly traffic turnaround is possible," said DB board member Sabina Jeschke. According to this, the railway does not want to use vehicles with conventional diesel any more in 2050 in order to be climate neutral by then. Among other things, 1,300 diesel multiple units have to be replaced for this. According to Deutsche Bahn, 39 percent of the 33,000-kilometer DB network is not electrified. Diesel multiple units often run on regional routes in particular.
For the Tübingen hydrogen train, Deutsche Bahn is converting the Ulm maintenance facility and developing a mobile hydrogen filling station. According to the railway, the hydrogen will be produced in Tübingen with green electricity. The train will replace a diesel multiple unit between Tübingen, Horb and Pforzheim for a year, it said. This makes it possible to save 330 tons of carbon dioxide a year.
Also tests with hybrid locomotives
For sections with less traffic and without a power connection, Deutsche Bahn is also testing hybrid locomotives with diesel and batteries. There should also be pure battery trains. Experiments are also being carried out with so-called eco-diesel made from waste fats. Because even with electricity, the trains are not clean. The share of green electricity in traction current is 60 percent. The aim is 100 percent for 2038.
"Our hydrogen trains can replace diesel vehicles in the long term," said the head of the Siemens train division, Michael Peter, to Reuters. The replacement of the internal combustion engine in rail traffic by vehicles with hydrogen tanks or batteries will develop into a market worth billions. "In Europe we see a market potential of 10,000 to 15,000 multiple units that will be replaced in the next ten to 15 years," said the Siemens Mobility boss. A Mireo Plus train costs five to ten million euros, depending on the equipment. "That results in a market potential of 50 billion to 150 billion euros in Europe."
However, it remains to be seen whether vehicles with hydrogen tanks or vehicles with batteries will prevail on the non-electrified routes. Siemens is therefore pursuing several options. "The electricity comes either from the overhead line, from the battery or from the fuel cell," explained Peter. "Due to our modular design, we can combine these power sources in the vehicle according to customer requirements."
The group thus sees itself at an advantage over rival Alstom, which has already sold a number of regional multiple units with hydrogen fuel cells in Germany. While Alstom developed its Coradia iLint model from a diesel vehicle, the Siemens train on electrified sections of the route can also be supplied from the overhead line in order to drive and to charge the battery. However, hydrogen propulsion cannot yet compete with powerful diesel locomotives, such as those on the non-electrified routes in North America.
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