(Vienna / Saint-Quen) – Alstom's hydrogen-powered Coradia iLint train has completed three months of test operation on the regional routes of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). According to Alstom, the country's highest railway authority, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), granted the train approval for passenger service. Austria is the second country in Europe after Germany to have fully approved the Coradia iLint as an alternative to diesel multiple units.
During the three-month test on four routes in southern Lower Austria, Vienna and eastern Styria, “ÖBB and its passengers were able to convince themselves of the functionality and performance of the new fuel cell-based drive technology,” explained Alstom. The train had to prove itself on routes that were not intended for electrification. So far, hydrogen trains have been used primarily in northern Germany and the Netherlands. Through testing on geographically demanding routes in Austria, the railway was put through its paces there for the first time (we reported).
The ÖBB is very positive about the hydrogen train and the test drive. Now the collected data would be evaluated.
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Coradia iLint from Alstom / © ÖBB
