California To Begin Hydrogen-Powered Passenger Train Service In San Bernardino

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The California Division of Transportation, in any other case generally known as Caltrans, plans to transform its full fleet of intercity locomotives to zero emission, or ZE, know-how by 2035. To realize that objective, trains operated by native transportation businesses will probably be powered by hydrogenwhich is taken into account a sustainable, much less polluting, and doubtlessly price efficient various to fossil fuels and different sources of vitality. Hydrogen energy will put California’s passenger prepare fleet on the quickest observe towards a zero emission future, the company says.

The Guardian reviews {that a} new prepare powered by a hydrogen gas cell will start working between the cities of Redlands and San Bernardino, close to Los Angeles, early subsequent yr. Take a look at runs are being carried out at the moment. From the surface, it seems like another commuter prepare, however inside, it’s not like something the area — or the nation — has ever seen earlier than. The $20 million Zero Emission A number of Unit prepare, recognized fondly as Zemu, makes use of a hydrogen gas cell and battery system to energy the electrical traction motors and run the onboard electrical methods. The one byproduct of the gas cell is water vapor, which is a welcome change in an space that suffers from a number of the worst air high quality charges within the nation.

1st Hydrogen-Powered Practice In The US

The brand new know-how will make Zemu the primary hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions passenger prepare in North America to satisfy Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) necessities when it goes into service early subsequent yr. The observe between the 2 cities is named the Arrow Hall and it’s only 9 miles lengthy. It is likely one of the area’s shortest rail hyperlinks and carries about 416 passengers every day in the course of the week and greater than 6,430 riders on weekends. Its operators hope that Zemu will pave the best way for zero-emissions trains to run on lots of of miles of observe in southern California and throughout the nation within the close to future.

That would mark the beginning of a clear vitality rail motion within the US, which has historically lagged behind locations like Europe relating to each prepare ridership and innovation. It’s additionally a win for California, which has struggled to get formidable rail tasks like its high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles accomplished.

“What we have done with Zemu is transformational,” mentioned Ray Marquez, the president of the San Bernardino county transit authority in an announcement. “The development of the hydrogen powered train has solidified SBCTA’s place as an innovator in clean passenger rail here in the Inland Empire, throughout the state and the nation.” The debut of this know-how in North America comes because the larger Los Angeles area prepares for the 2028 Olympics, which the mayor of the town has mentioned will probably be a “no-car” video games. As well as, Zemu will assist California meet its objective of being carbon impartial by 2045.

For many years, San Bernardino has suffered from poor air high quality introduced on by a excessive focus of freeways, rail yards, industrial amenities, and freight terminals. Motivated by the poor air high quality and a want to scale back the stress on the county’s roads, which are sometimes crowded with vans transporting items from the ports of Los Angeles and Lengthy Seashore, SBCTA officers set out a decade in the past to seek out clear options to their present diesel trains. They landed on the hydrogen-powered Zemu, and in 2019 contracted with Swiss rail producer Stadler, Inc to construct them.

Anatomy Of A Hydrogen Gasoline Cell

Hydrogen gas cells mix hydrogen and oxygen molecules to generate electrical energy and produce water vapor as a byproduct. In follow, the gas cell features as an onboard generator that expenses the batteries that flip the wheels of the prepare. CleanTechnica readers, who’re all nicely above common, will spot the unfavourable facet of this know-how instantly. Just about all hydrogen within the US is created from methane gasoline in a course of that the majority undoubtedly does create carbon dioxide, so actually what Zumi is doing is benefiting from a zero emissions technique that leaves its carbon footprint someplace else. After all, sometime inexperienced hydrogen produced from renewable energy will resolve this difficulty. Till then, we’re left to fake these trains are a non-polluting technique of transportation.

Assembly The Security Problem

For passengers, the hydrogen gas cell know-how means a quieter trip. “All you’re going to hear is a couple HVAC blowers and cooling fans,” mentioned Kaden Killpack, a industrial mission supervisor at Stadler US who oversees the SBCTA and Caltrans tasks. Riders may also discover a smoother journey because of the prepare’s light-weight building. Nonetheless, the light-weight, aluminum physique design posed new challenges for Stadler, which wanted to show its trains might function safely on California’s present rail infrastructure. Lighter trains are extra vitality environment friendly, however to be able to function on the identical tracks as heavy freight, Stadler wanted to show that its aluminum trains might go the Federal Railroad Administration’s requirements for entrance finish collisions.

Growing a light-weight body that handed FRA requirements is a promising accomplishment as a result of it offers a zero emission various to the costly overhead electrification that’s widespread in Europe however is prohibited on freight strains within the US. “Once you take that vehicle and you add hydrogen to it, you make it possible to have zero emission technology on the same corridors where Union Pacific and NSF run,” Killpack mentioned. “That’s what’s really crazy and cool about this.”

One Small Step For San Bernardino

Putting the Zemu on the Arrow Hall is admittedly a small first step, Watkins says: “It’s one train, so it doesn’t move the needle dramatically.” However, he says, “it introduces the technology as a proof of concept” that would run on greater than 500 miles of southern California’s regional rail system and past. After seeing the early success of the Zemu mission final yr, Caltrans commissioned Stadler to construct longer variations of its hydrogen-powered trains that can run between Merced and Sacramento within the Central Valley on a brand new rail line.

To ensure that these small however promising steps to be economically sustainable in the long term, giant investments in hydrogen infrastructure will required. “You’ve got to be selling at least hundreds (of trains) to start to get some scale economies and bring those costs down,” Lewis Fulton, the director of the Power Futures Program on the UC Davis’s Institute for Transportation Research. Whatever the challenges, California officers are pushing hydrogen gas cell transportation ahead.

A mix of state, federal, and personal funding, California’s Alliance for Renewable Clear Hydrogen Power Methods will distribute some $12.6 billion to get 1000’s of hydrogen-powered buses, trucksand vehicles onto the highway and to construct hydrogen manufacturing and distribution hubs to run these rising fleets. Fulton mentioned the Zemu tasks are a results of these investments. “What we’re seeing in California now is a sense that hydrogen is coming and infrastructure is coming, and so why not tap into that?”

The Takeaway

My colleague Michael Barnard just isn’t a believer in hydrogen gas cells for vehicles, vans, and trains. Though, he may be persuaded to vary his thoughts if extra inexperienced hydrogen was out there and if it didn’t suck up each little bit of renewable vitality out there within the course of of constructing it. Caltrans could also be over the moon about trains and vans powered by hydrogen, however till it’s produced commercially with out creating its personal cloud of air pollution, its promise will stay largely illusory.