Rail Analysis India June Digital Magazine 2018 | Page 44

46 | Article
Including
Implementing Smart Cities…Transforming India for our Citizens
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
22-24 May 2019
An ideal alternative energy source for the rail?
Image Credits : WORLD STEEL
Autore : Robin Whitlock
Could this silent, sustainably powered, low-emission train be the first of a new wave of
environmentally-friendly rail transport solutions?
A
Co-Organiser
www.smartcitiesindia.com
www.railanalysis.com
Organiser
lstom call their new Coradia iLint the ‘train of
the future’. It certainly could be, given that
it’s the world’s first passenger train powered
by a hydrogen fuel cell, capable of almost
noiseless traction with no emissions apart
from water as steam.
The Coradia iLint was first presented to the world at the
Innotrans rail industry trade fair in 2016. It is the world’s
first, and as yet, only, hydrogen fuel cell passenger train
and Alstom believes it could initiate a new movement in the
industry towards hydrogen-powered trains.
The overall design is based on Alstom’s successful Coradia
Lint diesel train, available in single car or articulated two or
three car units. High-strength stainless steel is used in the
car shells as it is corrosion resistant and longer lasting than
other materials. High-strength steel enables the use of thinner
gauges and thus helps to reduce weight. High strength steel’s
ability to deliver the required toughness at a lower weight
means lower carbon emissions and improved fuel efficiency.
The train’s fuel cell sits on top of the roof of the vehicle, utilising
gaseous hydrogen supplied from a mobile hydrogen filling
station. This is pumped into a pressure tank, also situated on
the roof, which feeds the fuel cell. The hydrogen is currently
sourced from industry as a by-product, but Alstom hopes to
produce hydrogen, via electrolysis, from wind power in the
near future.
www.railanalysis.com