After the good news that the world id getting greener, another good news for the environment is that in the first time in history, there will be hydrogen fueled trains on the UK railways. The train is named as Breeze and it will change the existing trains into much cleaner trains for the modern age. There are news that these hydrogen fueled trains could be running on the UK railways as soon as the year 2022. These environmentally friendly trains will emit only water. The conversion of the trains will be carried out by a French company, Alstom with partnership with Eversholt Rail. The two companies have finished their engineering study on the trains and the concept and design has been finalized. The two innovative minds believe that the new hydrogen fueled train will accommodate more passengers as compared to the present trains.
Such trains are already present in Germany and are transporting passengers without emitting and harmful emissions. The UK Rail Minister said in a press release that the Hydrogen technology is an innovative venture that would transform the railway and make journeys cleaner and greener. The conversion of the Breeze trains would also bring more engineering job opportunities in the country. The conversion is to take place in the next three years and be completed by the year 2022. On the other hand, the government seeks to eliminate diesel fueled trains by 2040.
The hydrogen trains would not be functional on routes that have a widespread electrification. These innovative trains will work by converting hydrogen into electricity. The electricity will be then used to run an electric motor. Surprisingly, the emission from this will be pure drinkable water. This will be an environmentally friendly power source for cars, trains and other vehicles. Also, a hydrogen-based cell can be easily charged within a couple of minutes whereas a battery electric vehicle would take several hours. The hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity to power a battery and motor by mixing hydrogen and oxygen and the only emissions it produces during this process is water and steam and an additional energy that is stored in an ion lithium battery that is on board of the train. These cells are not yet deployed on the trains as they are very expensive to build as compared to the other diesel counterparts. The new train would have a speed of 90mph. However, in order to adjust the hydrogen gas storage tanks, the electric trains will have to be converted into three carriage trains. The electric trains that were built in 1988 by the British Rail will be the first ones to undergo this conversion. These trains once build, will be able to run for a 1000 km on just a single tank of hydrogen.
UK’s railway has evolved in the past years. It all started from steam trains and now its time for Hydrogen fueled trains. The country has made efforts to move towards a cleaner and greener environment.