Alstom Unveils Zero-Emission Train
Unveiled at InnoTrans 2016, the company's Coradia iLint is a CO2-emission-free regional train powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.
Alstom unveiled a zero-emissions train at InnoTrans 2016, a major transportation trade show taking palce Sept. 20-23 in Berlin, Germany. The company's Coradia iLint is a CO2-emission-free regional train powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Developed as an alternative to diesel-powered rail equipment, it uses a propulsion system that emits only steam and condensed water and produces a low level of noise while in operation.
Alstom, based in France, is a leading producer of railway systems and a promoter of sustainable mobility. The company said it is among the first railway manufacturers in the world to develop a passenger train based on this technology and offers "a complete package, consisting of the train and maintenance, as well as also the whole hydrogen infrastructure."
The train was developed after letters of intent were signed in 2014 with the German Landers of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, and the Public Transportation Authorities of Hesse for a new generation, emission-free train equipped with fuel cell drive.
"Alstom is proud to launch a breakthrough innovation in the field of clean transportation which will complete its Coradia range of regional trains. It shows our ability to work in close collaboration with our customers and develop a train in only two years," said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Alstom's chairman and CEO.
The company's announcement said a significant portion of Europe's rail network will remain non-electrified in the long term, and so the number of diesel trains in circulation is still high, with more than 4,000 cars in Germany, for example. Alstom has sold more than 2,400 trains from its Coradia line of regional trains around the world; the Coradia iLint is based on the diesel-powered Coradia Lint 54 and will be manufactured in Salzgitter, Alstom's largest site.