On the tracks of any Italian station, it is not difficult to realize: the diesel engines of our trains emit heavy black fumes, highly polluting. But all this is about to end, thanks to a new form of ecological transport: the hydrogen train.
The future of eco-friendly transport starts from the small Valcamonica, where, between Brescia, Iseo and Edolo, starting from 2025, trains will simply release… water vapor!
The protagonists of this story green are FNM, the main integrated group in sustainable mobility in Lombardy, the manufacturing company Alstom, a global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, and the Coradia Stream train hydrogen powered
The Brescia Iseo Edolo route and the reduction of CO2 emissions
At present, the railway line that in 103 km It connects the Lombard capital with the centers of Iseo and Edolo, is traveled by 14 diesel trains for a total of 51 daily trains and an average of 90 thousand km per year for each train.
The line is not electrified (a solution that would obviously be less polluting than diesel fuel), but it would not even be possible to foresee a transformation in this direction: the ones rowing against it are the steep slopes and, above all the, gallery too narrow to allow the installation of a catenary (overhead line of contact cables with the locomotive). It should also be considered that the electrification of railway lines (in Italy 35% of the entire network, in Europe 40%) involves not indifferent costs and, therefore, when possible, alternatives are preferred.
Il H2iseO project, now in the final stages of train validation and certification, was born as an alternative solution to the diesel train: the idea is to put new technologies at the service of citizens, saving energy and protecting the environment, without forgetting the comfort of travellers.
So a train was chosen, the Coradia, already widely used in Italy and whose performance in terms of quality of service provided and customer appreciation are known and consolidated.
The H2iseO project and the first Italian Hydrogen Valley in Valcamonica
2025 will therefore see the first three Coradia Stream enter into service to progressively replace the old and outdated rolling stock currently in use: the new trains, equipped with hydrogen fuel cells, will be with zero direct CO2 emissions.
The hydrogen train in Valcamonica is not a drop in the desert, but the first step of a larger H2iseO project, which aims, with the realization of the first Hydrogen Valley in our country, to achieve the objective requested by the European Union: 100% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050!
Arriving in Valcamonica, therefore, not only trains, but also decarbonisation of much of local public transport: progressively, in Brescia, Iseo and Edolo, three plants for the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen from electrolysis (known as green hydrogen), therefore renewable and without CO2 emissions. Over the next few years, they will then enter into service 40 hydrogen buses, which will replace, one after the other, all the vehicles in the fleet currently in service in the area managed by the FNM Group.
The positive effects on the territory will not only be measured in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, but in the development of a new and innovative economic and industrial chain linked to the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen.
The Lombardy region and Ferrovie Nord are not new to sustainable mobility projects like these: in recent years, 222 trains equipped with technologies capable of reducing the ecological impact of transport in the region have been purchased and put into service, such as the battery-powered electric trains in operation from 2023 also on electrified lines. The move towards hydrogen is a further step in the direction of decarbonising transport in Lombardy.
How the Hydrogen Train Works: Fuel Cells and Lithium-ion Batteries
As mentioned, the hydrogen train is built on the pre-existing Coradia, currently in service on the Lombardy railway network.
The material has obviously been adapted to the needs of the case and the Power Car, Or a 12-meter long intermediate carriage where the heart of the hydrogen technology is kept, allowing the train to move along the entire route without any CO2 emissions.
The roof is equipped with the Fuel Cell, while inside the Power Car special tanks contain gaseous hydrogen at 350 bar, that is mixed with the outside air: the energy produced by this combination is stored in the High-performance lithium-ion batteries (necessary to ensure fuel economy) and used during acceleration phases to integrate the action of the hydrogen cells.
The Coradia Stream is a train composed of four carriages for a total of 300 passengers and its standards are the same as a traditional train: the autonomy is approximately 600 km, the comfort and silence are the same as the other electric Coradia models: between one station and another, passengers will be able to chat, read, talk on the phone, chat or place bets on the next sporting event by taking advantage of the online platforms of non-AAMS casinos for Italian players.
The expansion of the zero CO2 emissions project in Italy and Europe
Following the model of what is about to start in Valcamonica, Ferrovie del Sud Est has also ordered hydrogen trains: there are four models that will enter into operation in the very near future, while in Germany the state of the work is more advanced than that of Lombardy.
There is a production of hydrogen trains the French Alstom, which has been dealing, for several years, with the design, production, maintenance and marketing of materials and components for railway transport.
The trains that will run in Lombardy and Puglia are produced by the nine Alstom factories in Italy, where approximately 4 thousand employees work: over the years, the historic headquarters in Savigliano have been joined by sites in Bologna, Vado Ligure and Sesto San Giovanni, among others. Also very important are the scientific collaborations with the Polytechnic of Turin, Politecnico di Milano , Fondazione Bruno Kessler of the University of Trento.
