The partnership revealed on Wednesday (April 6) will cover the implementation of renewable hydrogen logistics and refuelling solutions for a fuel cell system that can power electric locomotives on non-electrified sections of the railway network.
This will be crucial in ensuring that the locomotive industry is fully decarbonise and presents hydrogen and fuel cells a future within this mobility market.
Read more: Alstom, Eversholt to introduce the UK’s ‘first-ever’ hydrogen train fleet
Read more: Alstom: Hydrogen key to removing diesel from railways
Alstom and ENGIE share the ambition to put hydrogen at the heart of rail industry decarbonisation.
This has already been successfully demonstrated during the Coradia iLint train test, organised in March 2020 in the Dutch Province of Groningen, where renewable hydrogen was used to refuel a passenger train.
For Alstom, this partnership is in line with its strategic plan ‘Alstom in Motion 2025’ as well as its hydrogen strategy initiated in 2013 with the development of the Coradia iLint train and pursued with the acquisition of fuel cell manufacturer Helion Hydrogen Power in 2021.
Raphaël Bernardelli, Vice-President of Corporate Strategy at Alstom, said, “Our ambition is to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen power in the rail industry by developing innovative solutions that help green heavy-duty mobility operations like rail freight.
“In order to help drive the evolution of the hydrogen rail sector we need to gather stakeholders, and this is exactly why we have decided to partner with ENGIE.”
Sébastien Arbola, Executive Vice-President in charge of Thermal Generation, Hydrogen & Energy Supply at ENGIE, said, “After successfully supplying the Coradia iLint during tests in the Netherlands in 2020, we are delighted to continue our efforts with Alstom in decarbonising heavy-duty mobility by combining our respective expertise to serve European rail freight.
“This partnership marks a new step in the development of decarbonated hydrogen solutions to answer to the strong demand of these growing market.”
Did you know H2 View is the only media publication to be recognised as an official partner of the Hydrogen Council?
This means we get exclusive columns, interviews and studies that you won’t find anywhere else. Along with our featured webinars and events, H2 View is the go to global platform for the hydrogen industry.
Become a subscriber today to make sure you don’t miss out. Already a subscriber? Log in here.