The Anonymous Widower

Ten Spanish Companies Join Forces To Apply Hydrogen Propulsion To A High-Speed Train For The First Time

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Talgo.

These are the three bullet points.

  • The Hympulso project is part of the Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTES)
  • A new technical car with hydrogen and batteries to be developed for a Talgo 250 train, allowing it to run on clean energy on non-electrified lines.
  • The main partners are Talgo, Golendus, Ingeteam, Repsol, Sener and Optimus3D.

These are the first four paragraphs.

Ten Spanish companies have joined forces to design, build and install, for the first time in the world, a propulsion system based on renewable hydrogen fuel cells on a high-speed train. Under the Hympulso project, the companies will develop a set of technologies that can be applied to the Talgo 250 ‘all-terrain’ train, making it possible to electrify the rail network with energy generated entirely from renewable sources, even on lines without overhead power lines.

Led by Talgo, Hympulso also includes Golendus, Ingeteam, Optimus3D, Repsol and Sener as partners. Universidad Pontificia Comillas and Tecnalia are collaborators, while Adif is an observer. The initiative has received a grant of €6.5 million and is part of the Incentive Programme for the Innovative Value Chain and Knowledge of Renewable Hydrogen, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

Hympulso will be comprehensive in nature: it will activate the entire renewable hydrogen value chain in the railway system, from production to consumption. The project will also make it possible to analyse the impact of the future transition on the various railway infrastructure assets managed by Adif, such as maintenance facilities or the track.

Thus, the project will result in a joint output of hydrogen supply installations adapted to railways -both mobile and static- and a pioneering prototype of a hybrid bimodal train for passengers with automatic track-gauge change, which will be able to run both on conventional and high-speed networks, using catenary supply when available, or hydrogen and batteries in those corridors that are not electrified.

This picture shows a visualisation of the train.

Note.

  1. There is a power car containing the hydrogen fuel cells and other gubbins behind the one or both locomotives.
  2. Hydrogen power is used, where there is no electrification.
  3. Talgo already make a high speed train with a diesel power pack, so engineering would only involve developing a new hydrogen power pack.

My only questions are.

  • Do the trains come without gauge-changing?
  • Could they be run on a typical UK rail line?
  • Do they speak, Cornish, Gaelic and Welsh?

If the answer to all questions is yes, then this must be the ideal train for these routes.

  • London Euston and Aberystwyth
  • London Euston and Holyhead
  • London King’s Cross and Aberdeen.
  • London King’s Cross and Cleethorpes/Grimsby
  • London King’s Cross and Inverness.
  • London King’s Cross and Thurso/Wick.
  • London Paddington and Carmarthen
  • London Paddington and Penzance

Note.

  1. No more electrification on these routes would be needed.
  2. The trains could use High Speed Two to wherever it goes.
  3. The trains could do 140 mph on the Great Western Main Line, East Coast Main Line and West Coast Main Line.

Hympulso looks a very comprehensive, professional and practical plan, that could easily be adapted to the UK mainland.

January 25, 2024 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , | 13 Comments