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https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/a-waste-of-taxpayer-s-money-german-passenger-group-slams-hydrogen-trains-as-a-distraction-from-need-to-electrify/2-1-1516761>
"The German state of Bavaria’s push for hydrogen-powered trains as a way to
decarbonise its railways will be extremely expensive and delay the more
economic option of direct electrification, argues the Bavarian wing of Pro
Bahn, a non-profit train passenger association.
“The most important meaning of hydrogen for mobility in Bavaria is the
opportunity for photo ops for politicians, distraction from the essentials and
the waste of tax money,” said Lukas Iffländer, chairman of Pro Bahn’s Bavarian
regional association, commenting on a recent appearance of the state economics
minister Hubert Aiwanger — a strong proponent of H2 in transport — at the IAA
motor show in Munich earlier this month.
Bavaria’s government contracted its first hydrogen-powered train, a Mireo Plus
prototype from Siemens, in March 2022 for a 30-month pilot, with a test run
scheduled for this week. However, passenger operations will not begin until
2024.
“Only with a lot of tax money can ‘pilot projects’ be carried out, which no
longer have any meaning other than enabling expensive photo ops,” Iffländer
added.
Pro Bahn pointed out that in technology-neutral tenders for public transport by
other German states, electric drivetrains using a combination of overhead lines
and batteries have generally won out over hydrogen fuel cells.
This echoes recent comments by German train manufacturer Stadler, which noted
that not only are battery-electric models appropriate for the range of most of
the 500 routes still served by diesel stock, but these have lower operation and
maintenance costs than fuel-cell trains."
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
