The Birmingham Centre for Rail Research and Education (BCRRE), the largest university-based centre for railway research in Europe, has unveiled the UK’s first fully operating hydrogen train at Rail Live 2018, an annual event that brings the entire industry together to showcase rail expertise. The train, named ‘Hydrogen Hero’, has been completely designed and engineered in the UK, and is currently a scaled-down version using technology that is ready to be brought to market with BCRRE industry partners in the coming months.
Transport currently accounts for around a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and the Government has committed to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 80%, against 1990 levels, by 2050. In February 2018, Minister of State for Transport Jo Johnson called for diesel-only trains to be phased out as part of a new vision to decarbonize the railway by 2040. Hydrogen trains are expected to form a key part of the UK’s plan to tackle climate change and to improve air quality, particularly in city centre stations such as Birmingham New Street which was recently found to suffer from very poor air quality at platform level.
The development of this demonstration model brings the UK one step closer to seeing fully functioning hydrogen trains on the tracks within four years and helping to significantly reduce the railway’s carbon emissions.
Dr Stuart Hillmansen, Senior Lecturer in Railway Energy and Power Systems at BCRRE, said: “Hydrogen fuel cell technology is ready for the railway. With our ‘Hydrogen Hero’ train, we want to demonstrate that hydrogen is viable right now for use on the UK railway as a realistic alternative to diesel. At BCRRE we are actively innovating and developing practical, market-ready technologies that can transform the UK railway.”
Source: University of Birmingham
