KEITH FENDER REPORTS FROM GERMANY ON ALSTOM’S ILINT – AND DISCUSSES WHETHER THIS TECHNOLOGY WOULD BE SUITABLE FOR THE UK
HYDROGEN TRAINS
In early November 2017, the German state of Niedersachsen announced the first firm order for 14 of Alstom’s new iLINT hydrogen fuel cell powered multiple-units in Germany. Niedersachsen transport authority LNVG is buying 14 trains at a cost of around €90 million. The trains – two existing prototypes and 12 more production trains – will be in service by December 2021 on the Buxtehude–Bremervörde– Bremerhaven–Cuxhaven route.
Alstom will build the trains in Salzgitter (in Niedersachsen) and has been awarded a 30-year maintenance contract for the new units. The company has also signed letters of intent for hydrogen-powered regional trains with three other German states; up to 44 more iLINT trains may be ordered by them. At a media event Alstom held for the international press in mid-November the company confirmed it is in discussions with a wide range of UK operators, rolling stock financiers and the Department for Transport about how the new technology could be introduced into the UK. Alstom sees the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway as other potential markets for hydrogen-powered trains.
