analysis
Status: 04/12/2023 2:43 p.m
CO2 must be saved in the transport sector in particular – Deutsche Bahn sees the greatest potential in hydrogen trains. However, this requires its own infrastructure. And the development of the trains is still in its infancy.
Albrecht Neumann actually wanted to present a success story: the Mireo H – the hydrogen train from the Siemens railway division Siemens Mobility. But now it’s on the Siemens test site in Wegberg in North Rhine-Westphalia and doesn’t want to go anymore. Siemens manager Neumann tries to remain calm: “That’s why we test, so that things like this happen here and not later in passenger operations.”
In fact, this is now a problem: the Mireo-H should bring the German railway manufacturer Siemens back to the front, after competitors such as Alstom have been on the market with hydrogen trains for some time. But the fuel cell went on strike just in time for the demonstration for selected journalists. “Probably a software error,” suspects Neumann. The demonstration can only continue with a delay of one hour and a train with reduced performance.
Technology problems slow down development
After all, Siemens has such problems in common with its competitors. The French railway group Alstom had already landed a great success in Germany last year: 27 hydrogen-powered trains were to run on the Taunusbahn from 2022 for the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund. But more and more new technical difficulties brought the project to a standstill – and hydrogen as a drive discredited.
Hydrogen-powered trains are seen as a way of reducing CO2 emissions in transport. They can be used wherever outdated diesel locomotives are used. These are mainly the railway lines where there are no overhead lines. Almost a third of the approximately 33,000 kilometers of rail in Germany. In local passenger transport in particular, more than a quarter of all journeys are made with diesel locomotives.
It’s the hard-to-reach branch lines that aren’t electrified. Equipping all of these with overhead lines takes too long and is also not economical. If the diesel locomotive is to be saved there, then this can only be done with battery-powered trains or a hydrogen train like the Mireo H.
Battery and hydrogen trains
“Battery trains and hydrogen trains are actually identical in principle,” explains Siemens manager Neumann. “The big difference is the range: With a battery-powered train, you can travel between 50 and 100 kilometers, depending on the size and number of passengers. But with hydrogen it’s 800 kilometers.”
Battery trains are particularly suitable for short, level routes. Hydrogen trains can cover long distances, including inclines in mountains, for example.
Deutsche Bahn relies on “green” hydrogen
Only since 2019 have the major train manufacturers and the railways focused on the former niche project of hydrogen. The biggest problem: the infrastructure. There is still no reliable hydrogen supply that is actually CO2-neutral. More than 90 percent of the hydrogen consumed in Germany is so-called “grey” hydrogen, which is produced by processing fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil or coal. The hydrogen trains of the Taunus Bahn from Alstom are currently also running on this hydrogen, which is not produced in a climate-neutral manner, as Siemens Mobility Eisenbahn boss Neumann likes to emphasize.
Deutsche Bahn wants to build its own hydrogen filling stations for its hydrogen trains, where the hydrogen is obtained through electrolysis – the so-called “green” hydrogen. Here, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen with the help of electricity. “The electricity used for this will come from renewable energies,” emphasizes Marc-Andre Sahba, who is responsible for the hydrogen strategy at Deutsche Bahn. Ultimately, however, Deutsche Bahn is also dependent on the availability of sufficient electricity from renewable energies to produce the required quantities of hydrogen in a climate-neutral manner.
The need increases
Hydrogen is considered by many to be the miracle cure for making the economy CO2-neutral. But the big question is: where do you get it from? Because even now, only the smallest part of the estimated one million tons of hydrogen that is used in Germany every year is obtained through electrolysis – only about seven percent. The federal government wants to increase this share to around 50 percent by 2030. So it will have to be imported.
Although there are many simulation games on how hydrogen could get to us from North African and Arab countries, a lot of it is still in the early stages of planning. At the same time, all players assume that the demand for hydrogen will increase dramatically. Conservative estimates assume that it will double in Germany by 2050, while industry representatives such as the Federation of German Industries (BDI) assume the need will be three times as high.
Mobile oxygen filling stations
The technology itself is not the problem: fuel cells, which convert hydrogen into electrical energy, are not new technology. And keeping the volatile and highly flammable substance under control is also no longer a problem.
Deutsche Bahn is proud to show off its new, mobile oxygen filling stations, which make it possible to fill up a hydrogen train as quickly as a diesel locomotive: “We also need exactly this type of quick refueling,” emphasizes Bahn Manager Sahba. In operation, it should be possible to adhere to the timetables as in diesel traffic. This is also a criterion as to whether the customers who order local transport ultimately decide in favor of hydrogen trains or not.
Also a question of political will
According to Sahba, whether hydrogen can prevail as a drive system for trains is primarily a question of political will. In Germany, local transport companies such as Deutsche Bahn or others only make limited decisions about the types of trains used. Each local transport route is advertised by the federal states – with very precise specifications. It also says whether hydrogen or batteries or diesel locomotives should be used.
It shouldn’t be a question of price. Hydrogen trains are currently the most expensive alternative, reveals Neumann from the manufacturer Siemens Mobility – both in terms of purchase and operation. But that changes if you compare them to the diesel locomotives they are supposed to replace over the long term. Due to the CO2 pricing, it is already clear that diesel will be the most expensive drive of all in the long run.