In this episode we’re geeking out about Hydrogen trains with Troy Shorley, Technical Director and Daniel Koning, Principal Consultant and Subject Matter Expert from Deutsche Bahn.

 

Deutsche Bahn currently has the largest fleet of hydrogen trains in the world, so in this episode, we enjoyed welcoming two of their experts on low and zero-emission technologies to take a deeper dive. DB Engineering and Consulting is working in 84 nations worldwide, providing railway engineering, and railway consulting operations services.

 

Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting is part of the Deutsche Bahn Group in Germany, the owner and operator of the Rail Network in Germany. Deutsche Bahn Group employs 320,000 people worldwide and DB Engineering & Consulting employs over 5,000 people.

 

 

Troy is an Electrical Engineer with over 20 years of experience in electricity, transmission rail and engineering consultancy.

He has extensive experience in rail traction systems, low and zero-emission technologies, and examining the different technologies and their interdependence within rail traction systems. He is an expert in system design, earthing, and bonding system integration, as well as construction and commissioning supervision.

 

Daniel is a subject matter expert for railway systems and low and zero-emission technologies. He has 21 years of experience in the railway sector and over 10 years focused on innovative railway technologies and digitization. He has worked on major Australian and international projects across Europe, the USA, and Latin America as the Lead Subject Matter Expert, at Zero Emission Technologies.

 

 

 

Introducing hydrogen technology to trains would significantly contribute to decarbonising the transport sector. Hydrogen can bridge non-electrified gaps in our network where battery systems will be insufficient and where overhead continuing electrification can't be justified because the line frequency is not high enough.

 

 

Currently, 65% of the network is electric and achieving 100% is not viable due to some of the lines being rural and certain areas that are not populated so the cost of electrification is too high.

 

Another opportunity is the decarbonisation of Australia, and one of the strategies Germany uses to reduce the overall decarbonization of transport is to replace short-haul flights with high-speed rail intercity express services.

 

 

 

The best option for highly frequented railway corridors is full electrification since the overall system efficiency is roughly 85 to 90% and you can't beat that. 

 

When you can't justify full electrification for shorter routes currently up to a hundred kilometres that are non-electrified, then battery electric traction is a good alternative. You can recover braking energy and also have a higher system efficiency when the stretches are getting a little bit longer. Battery technology currently can't cope with that and also when the power demand is a little bit bigger, especially for freight transport. Hydrogen is a very interesting alternative, the fuel system can provide the range and combined with a battery system it can cope with a high power demand. And as an intermediate solution, we can look at renewable carbon-based fuels. They're also a way to quickly decarbonize railway traffic, and they are potentially a drop-in solution for existing diesel fleets.

 

 

Hydrogen is interesting, but the range you can achieve is limited due to the volumetric energy, density, and ammonia is a very interesting hydrogen carrier. So by using ammonia, you can store more hydrogen than in the compressed form. FFI and Deutsche Bahn are currently testing a retrofitted diesel engine on a test lap in Germany. We mix hydrogen and ammonia to a combustive gas, inject it into the engine and try to optimize the combustion process.

 

 

The hydrogen fuel cell trains effectively have an electric drive system, so they're very similar to the existing electric locomotives so they're very low maintenance schedule and cost for the electric drive system. The difference comes in with the energy system. The need for battery replacements and hydrogen fuel that are replacements. 

 

 

There is work to be done with aligning the standards to achieve the safety required so there's no detriment to the current railway systems. It is the same transition as centuries ago coming from coal as the main source of a rail vehicle then transiting to diesel. Everything thought diesel, this combustible liquid, is very dangerous and new procedures had to be developed. So now it's transiting from diesel that people are very unfamiliar with.

 

 

A few smaller fleets have been tested in commercial operation. The first commercial operation with a larger fleet just started in December. The trains are operated by DB and there are another few public tender processes in place currently to procure additional fleets for different rural networks. 

 

The main reason for that is that the German government is really pushing hard for the decarbonization of the transport sector so there's a net zero target of 2040 for DB. 27 units currently being put into commercial operation near Frankfurt.

 

 

 

 

If you look at hydrogen trains currently for passenger operation, the Capex is significantly higher, roughly two to three times that of a diesel train, which makes it very challenging for implementation.

 

The second challenge definitely is currently the cost of fuel. So green hydrogen produced in Germany is very expensive because we have limited renewable energy to produce that hydrogen. So in my opinion, Australia is in a fantastic position. It's very fortunate regarding renewable Energy Australia can play in the future.

 

There's a trade agreement in place between Germany and Australia about hydrogen technology and the supply of green hydrogen, which is very exciting. 

 

Last but not least, the last challenge is that hydrogen trains still have a limited range when compared to diesel trains which we are working through innovative solutions for.

 

 

When we look at these new components that go into a propulsion system, batteries and fuel cells. In every rolling stock today it has a lead acid battery system as part of the train energy system for these batteries. There is a whole recycling chain in place today, and I think if we transit to lithium-ion batteries and also to fuel cells, the same recycle chain has to be developed for these new battery cell chemistries and also for the fuel cells.

 

 

The process is starting but still, a lot to get done for the rail industry, there's certainly greater involvement needed from regulatory bodies. Would also then need some pilot projects so that they can actually see how these standards can be applied and showcase that this is something that's very viable already.

 

 

 

 

At least at the trial implementation stage of introducing the hydrogen technologies in the rail sector. So whether that be as a fuel cell or ammonia combustion, there are certainly opportunities in the freight sector, in the mining sector who seem to be more motivated to be involved in these projects.

 

 

 

Deutsche Bahn  http://www.deutschebahn.com

 

Deutsche Bahn Engineering and consulting http://www.db-engineering-consulting.com
 
 

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