Coradia iLint train successfully travels 1,175km on one tank of hydrogen fuel

Credit: Alstom

During a long-distance journey, an unmodified serially-produced Alstom Coradia iLint train has covered 1,175km without refuelling its hydrogen tank, only emitting water and operating with very low levels of noise.

The vehicle used for this journey comes from the fleet belonging to LNVG (Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen), the transport authority of Lower Saxony, and has been in regular passenger operation on the network of evb (Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser GmbH) since mid-August 2022.

This milestone has demonstrated the effectiveness of Alstom’s hydrogen powered solutions for long-distance transportation, with Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO and Chairman of the Board at Alstom, saying: “We are pleased to be leading innovation in this area as the first railway manufacturer in the world to offer a passenger train based on hydrogen technology. With this journey, we have provided further proof that our hydrogen trains have all the prerequisites to replace diesel vehicles. We are immensely proud of the pioneering work we have done in introducing hydrogen to rail transport.”

Starting in Bremervörde, the route took the Coradia iLint across Germany. From Lower Saxony, where the hydrogen train was built and developed by Alstom, it travelled through Hesse to Bavaria, all the way to Burghausen near the German-Austrian border before coming to a stop in Munich. Following this remarkable journey, the train will now head for the German capital. Several trips through Berlin are on the agenda as part of InnoTrans 2022.

Credit: Alstom