Alstom announced on Oct. 10 that it has concluded the “successful demonstration” of the Coradia iLint, which carried more than 10,000 passengers, over 130 trips, spanning 10,660 kilometers (6,623 miles) in Quebec this summer from mid-June to the end of September.
On June 17, 2023, 100 passengers boarded Alstom’s Coradia iLint for the first hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) rail journey in North America.
Alstom has performed 10 days of tests of the Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell train—the world’s first passenger train powered by hydrogen fuel cells—on the 65-kilometer line between Groningen and Leeuwarden to the north of the Netherlands.
Alstom and rolling stock leasing company Eversholt Rail have unveiled a concept for a hydrogen multiple-unit (HMU) for the British market that involves converting existing EMUs (electric multiple-units) for operation on non-electrified routes. The concept, dubbed Breeze, involves reengineering class 321 EMUs originally built by British Rail Engineering Limited in 1988-1991. Most of the fleet of 117 trains is due to come off lease within the next few years due to the delivery of new equipment.
Alstom’s Coradia iLint, the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered regional passenger train, has won the 2018 GreenTec Award in the Mobility category by Germany-based Schaeffler Group Industrial, a manufacturer of machinery, power transmission and railway, heavy industry and consumer products with facilities around the world.
Fuel cells—a technology originally developed for NASA’s Gemini and Apollo space programs in the 1960s—are powering an Alstom main line passenger trainset.
