GERMANY: Alstom’s Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell multiple-unit was formally approved for passenger service on July 11. The two prototype units are expected to enter pilot service on the Elbe-Weser network with the first scheduled services planned for late summer.

‘Hydrogen is a true low-emission and efficient alternative to diesel’, said Enak Ferlemann, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Transport & Digital Infrastructure, when President of the Federal Railway Office Gerald Hörster handed over the approval certificate on July 11. ‘On secondary lines where overhead lines are uneconomic or not yet available, these trains are a clean and environmentally friendly option. That is why we support and promote the technology’.

Alstom’s development of the 140 km/h Coradia iLint was funded with €8m from the German government’s National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technology.

In November 2017 Niedersachsen transport authority LNVG signed a contract for Alstom to supply 14 fuel cell multiple-units and maintain and fuel them for 30 years. These are expected to enter service between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude from December 2021.