Stadler’s FLIRT H2 Sets World Record For Hydrogen Powered Train
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
Stadler’s FLIRT H2 has set the Guinness World Record for the longest distance achieved by a hydrogen-powered passenger train without refuelling or recharging.
The record attempt began on the evening of 20th March 2024 at the ENSCO test centre in Pueblo, Colorado, and concluded 46 hours later, with the train completing 2803 kilometres on a single tank filling.
A team of engineers from Stadler and ENSCO drove the vehicle in shifts during the attempt.
The journey is about the same distance as the crow flies between Edinburgh and Athens.
Stadler have also published this video.
The train appears to be a a Flirt, like Greater Anglia’s Class 755 trains or Transport for Wales’s Class 231 trains, with a power unit in the middle.
Note.
- The picture shows a Class 231 train at Cardiff Queen Street station.
- A Greater Anglia driver told me, these trains are 125 mph trains.
- The Flirt H2 has only two passenger cars, but UK Flirts are have three or four cars.
Perhaps we should buy a few of these trains for long routes like Liverpool and Norwich or Cardiff and Holyhead!
They would surely be ideal for CrossCountry
The Anonymous Widower 
Very impressive puts hydrogen back in the game and looks like they could easily get a 1000km into the smaller gauge power pack on Class 755
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | March 25, 2024 |
A round trip from between Norwich and Liverpool is 755 kilometres, so I don’t think range will be a problem.
The trains could be serviced by Stadler at Crown Point in Norwich, which is close to Norwich station.
Although, hydrogen is available in Liverpool from Runcorn, it should soon be available at Norwich because of the hydrogen buses being used to get workers to the Sizewell C plant.
Comment by AnonW | March 25, 2024 |
Range certainly won’t be a problem for that particular Flirt ZEMU, it’s intended to operate on the Arrow Line in San Bernadino CA, which is 9 miles in length.
Comment by fammorris | March 25, 2024
Stadler’s marketing is excellent.
Comment by AnonW | March 25, 2024 |
In an attempt to head off a bid from the Hungarians, which the Spanish government regards as unwelcome Trilantic, the major private equity shareholder of Talgo, is trying to encourage Stadler to launch a competing bid.
Stadler who were a non entity less than 25 years ago certainly have very different profile now.
Comment by fammorris | March 26, 2024 |
It is now nearly five years since Greater Anglia launched the excellent 755s. I have read reports, that at their first major service, the trains may be reconfigured with batteries.
It will be interesting to see, what decarbonisation of a route, like Ipswich and Felixstowe, which is only 30 miles round trip, will do for passenger numbers.
Comment by AnonW | March 27, 2024
Regarding your latest remarks about battery substitution there’s an interesting thread in the following link that discusses the subject. It looks to me that while it’s entirely possible, there are a number of allied issues to iron out. It would be interesting to know the discussions going on in Greater Anglia https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/abellio-greater-anglia-class-755s-regional-trains.148431/page-253
Comment by fammorris | March 27, 2024
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