Here's another hydrogen train that's not at Long Marston, or anywhere else yet, as it's no more than a heads of agreement.
From Alstom:
Alstom and Eversholt Rail sign an agreement for the UK▸ ’s first ever brand-new hydrogen train fleet
Alstom/Advanced & Creative Design - New co-operation agreement aims to provide an initial fleet of 10 new hydrogen trains for UK
- Industry first will help UK and Scotland Government ambitions to decarbonise rail
10 November 2021 – Alstom, Britain’s leading train manufacturer and maintenance provider, and Eversholt Rail, leading British train owner and financier, have today announced a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at delivering the UK’s first ever brand-new hydrogen train fleet.
The two companies have agreed to work together, sharing technical and commercial information necessary for Alstom to design, build, commission and support a fleet of ten three-car hydrogen multiple units (HMUs). These will be built by Alstom in Britain. The new HMU fleet will be based on the latest evolution of the Alstom Aventra platform and the intention is that final contracts for the fleet will be signed in early 2022.
Eversholt Rail and Alstom are committed to taking a leading role in supporting the UK and Scotland Government ambitions to decarbonise its rail sector by 2040, and the Scottish Government’s objective of doing so by 2035. Alstom is a world leader in the provision of rolling stock solutions and was the first company in the world to produce a hydrogen powered train – the Coradia iLint – which is in operational service in Germany...
Alstom and Eversholt Rail have previously worked together on a hydrogen rolling stock solution for the UK rail sector, through the proposed conversion of an existing Electric Multiple Unit to hydrogen power – the ‘Breeze’ project. Both companies now believe that there is a market for a fleet of new trains for use by train operators across Britain. The breadth, depth of knowledge and experience gained from the Breeze project, together with stakeholder feedback on future fleet strategies, has been invaluable in shaping the product planning.
What the hell is that for? Network Rail's
TDNS▸ proposes the use of hydrogen trains on the following routes:
- Heart Of Wales Line (Llangennech to Craven Arms)
- Cambrian Main Line (Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth)
- Cambrian Coast Line (Dovey Junction to Pwllheli)
- East Suffolk Line (Westerfield to Lowestoft)
- Wherry Lines (Norwich to Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth)
- Bittern Line (Norwich to Sheringham)
Hydrogen trains are also a possibility for the Scottish routes absent from their electrification programme (they had not decided on battery or hydrogen when the TDNS was published):
- Girvan (I think) to Stranraer
- West Highland Line (Craigendoran to Mallaig)
- Crianlarich to Oban
- Dingwall to Kyle Of Lochalsh
- Tain (I think) to Wick and Thurso
None of those 11 routes strike me as somewhere you would want to prioritise standing room over seating capacity and toilets, yet that is exactly what those double-width doors do.
On the plus side, it looks like there is a full compliment of windows along the entire train. As a new-build, it would presumably be cheaper not to put windows in if there was an unfurnishable section full of hydrogen tanks and/or full cells. If I'm correct on that point, then either they have managed to get all the equipment to fit on the roof / under the floor, enabling the full interior to be fitted out for passenger use, or it has been designed for easy convertion to a straight
EMU▸ , or they have just re-liveried an existing render of an Aventra unit. On that last point, I can't see if there's a pantograph well on the render; if there isn't that's another mistake since I would expect services on at least six of the 11 routes to continue to destinations on routes that would take them under the wires.
