While almost half of the railway lines in the European Union are electrified and allow ‘local emission-free rail transport’, on the remaining sections of the lines diesel-powered trains are used.
However, within the EU project FCH2RAIL (Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Pack for Rail Applications) — a consortium with partners from Belgium, Germany, Spain and Portugal — is developing and testing a new zero-emission train prototype.
At the heart of the project is a hybrid bi-modal drive system that combines the electrical power supply from the overhead line with a ‘fuel cell hybrid power pack’ that consists of hydrogen fuel cells and batteries and works independently of the overhead line.
Where energy is available from overhead lines, the train takes the energy from them; where there are no overhead lines the energy will come from the fuel cell and battery system, called the ‘Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Pack’.
Holger Dittus, project leader and researcher from the
German Aerospace Centre, said: “Today, many railway lines in Europe are being equipped with overhead lines, which is a very expensive and long-term project that depends on the local geographical conditions; and while an alternative is purely battery-powered trains, they have a limited range of 30-70km, depending on the route profile and outside temperatures.
“Current diesel trains have lower performance in terms of top speed and acceleration compared to vehicles powered by electric motors from overhead lines. Our bi-modal hybrid fuel cell battery system combines the advantages of both technologies.”
To understand the environmental impacts of such a system, from its production, to its use, up to its disposal and to evaluate the performance under real conditions, it is planned to convert a CIVIA electric commuter train (manufactured by the Spanish manufacturer
CAF and to integrate a fuel-cell hybrid power pack in this train.
The Spanish state railway operator Renfe is providing the train. One of the central components of the on board energy system are the packaged fuel cell system modules from
Toyota Motor Europe (TME); the batteries and power converters will be provided by CAF.
Initial functional tests and trial runs for approval will take place on Spanish and Portuguese tracks with the support of the infrastructure managers. The Spanish hydrogen research centre Centro National de Hidrogeno (CNH2) has been entrusted with the construction of a hydrogen fuelling station to refuel the prototype and in FCHPP testing before train integration.
Thiebault Paquet, director of the Fuel Cell Business Group at Toyota Motor Europe, said: “We embrace this opportunity of working within the consortium to bring our fuel cell technology to another type of hydrogen application. Hydrogen has an important role to play in helping decarbonise Europe’s railways, and we are excited to integrate Toyota fuel cell modules into the ‘Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Pack’.”