Hydrogen could prove a highly effective low carbon fuel technology for powering trains.

That’s according to Polish coal mining company JSW and PKP Cargo, a national rail freight operator, which are working together to research, analyse and potentially produce new types of shunting locomotives and freight wagons powered by hydrogen fuel.

The main goal is to lower the consumption of energy and reduce the emissions currently produced by commercial and industrial trains.

JSW is also looking at the possibility of using hydrogen extracted from coke oven gas, a by-product of the industrial coke production process.

PKP Cargo president, Czeslaw Warsewicz, said: “The use of hydrogen to drive our locomotives will increase the competitiveness of our services.”