Alstom’s Coradia iLint Successfully Travels 1,175 km Without Refueling Its Hydrogen Tank
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Alstom.
This paragraph describes the trip.
Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, has demonstrated the effectiveness of its hydrogen powered solutions for long distance transportation. During a long-distance journey, an unmodified serially-produced Coradia iLint train covered 1,175 kilometres without refuelling the hydrogen tank, only emitting water and operating with very low levels of noise. The vehicle used for this journey comes from the fleet belonging to LNVG (Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen), the transport authority of Lower Saxony, and has been in regular passenger operation on the network of evb (Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser GmbH) since mid-August. For the project, Alstom also partnered with the gas and engineering company Linde.
The distance is around 730 miles.
This paragraph describes the detailed route.
Starting in Bremervörde, the route took the Coradia iLint across Germany. From Lower Saxony, where the hydrogen train was built and developed by Alstom, it travelled through Hesse to Bavaria, all the way to Burghausen near the German-Austrian border before coming to a stop in Munich. Following this remarkable journey, the train will now head for the German capital. Several trips through Berlin are on the agenda as part of InnoTrans 2022, the premier International Trade Fair for Transport Technology, to be held from 20 to 23 September.
It looks to be a good test of a hydrogen-powered train.
It looks like Alstom believe that hydrogen trains can replace diesel ones, providing there is a source of hydrogen.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Train Derailment
The Garmisch-Partenkirchen train derailment, which took place a few days ago, seems a strange one to me.
A push-pull train of five Bombardier double-deck carriages being pushed by a Class 111 locomotive derailed on a single-track line.
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the are of the derailment.
Note.
- The derailment took place between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Farchant.
- The train was heading North.
- The accident happened close to the junction of the B2 and B23 roads.
- The speed limit through the area would appear to be between 100 and 110 kph.
This Google Map shows the area in detail.
Note the railway curving to the left.
As an engineer, I used to be worried, where a heavy powerful locomotive pushed a rake of coaches at a high speed.
But then I had a long talk with a British Rail engineer, with whom I was working on the analysis of signal failures. He put my worries to rest.
In recent years in the UK, we have had four services, where a heavy, powerful locomotive runs a service in a push-pull mode, with a driving van trailer (DVT) at the other end of the train.
- Chiltern Railways – Marylebone and Birmingham.
- East Coast Main Line – London and Leeds and Edinburgh.
- Great Eastern – London and Norwich.
- TransPennine – Across the Pennines.
There has only been two serious accidents on these services.
- The Hatfield train crash, where poor track maintenance was the blame.
- The Selby train crash, where a train hit a Land Rover on the track.
Strangely, the same locomotive was involved in both crashes. It was pulling at Hatfield, but pushing at Selby.
It should also be noted that prior to the introduction of the driving van trailer, a less sophisticated control car calla a Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO) was used.
- They were converted from Mark 2 coaches.
- Some are still in services with Network Rail.
One was destroyed in the Polmont rail accident, where an Edinburgh to Glasgow train struck a cow.
In a section entitled Background in its entry for the Polmont rail accident, Wikipedia says this.
Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley were operated by the push-pull technique with a single British Rail Class 47 locomotive located at one end of the train at all times (the locomotive usually pulled the carriages from Glasgow to Edinburgh and pushed them on the return journey). At the other end of the train was a Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO). DBSO carriages were introduced on the line in 1980 and consisted of a passenger carriage with a control cab at the front for the driver; a DBSO would be situated at the front of the train allowing the driver to control the locomotive with a set of remote controls from which control signals were sent through the lighting circuits of the train to the locomotive pushing from behind. This system meant that the train could continuously run between the two cities without having to allow time to switch the locomotive to the front of the train between departures. However, it left the front of the train vulnerable when being pushed from behind because the front end was lighter than the rear and had the risk of being pushed over an obstruction, leading to derailment.
To summarise in the UK, of the three major accidents involving push-pull trains, two were caused by substantial objects getting on the line, that was hit by the DVT or DBSO.
- All three accidents have been fully explained.
- Recommendations have been made to ensure better track security.
- I notice that now, where push-pull trains are used for replacement services, they seem to be run using two locomotives.
- Hitachi and Stadler both build quality bi-mode trains, which can replace push-pull operation using diesel locomotives.
I doubt that we’ll see many more new push-pull services in the UK, except where there is a shortage of suitable new rolling stock or on heritage services.
No reports from Germany have indicated that anything was on the line.
More ICE Sprinters Offer Alternative To Flying
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
The first two paragraphs, give an overview of the changes being made.
Deutsche Bahn introduced more limited-stop Sprinter ICE services on long-distance inter-city routes with the timetable change on December 12.
Sprinter-branded ICE services now operate on eight domestic routes, while a daily Frankfurt am Main – Paris service calling at Mannheim and Karlsruhe also carries the branding. Intended to appeal to business travellers, many of the Sprinter services are timed to depart early in the morning with return trips in the evening. This ensures a full day at the destination and offers a viable alternative to domestic flights.
It would appears that these services now have trains that are under the acceptable four hours.
- Cologne and Berlin
- Cologne and Munich
- Hamburg and Frankfurt Airport
If Deutsche Bahn are serious about competing with the airlines, they must surely increase the frequency.
In 2018, I travelled between Berlin and Munich in under four hours and wrote about it in From Berlin To Munich In Four Hours By Train.
This is how I started that post.
The length of the East Coast Main Line between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh is 632 kilometres.
Deutsche Bahn have recently completed an upgraded High Speed Line between Berlin and Munich, which has a length of 623 kilometres.
Both lines are not the very fastest of High Speed Lines, but lines where a consistent two hundred kilometres per hour is possible.
The East Coast Main Line was built in Victorian times and services typically take around twenty minutes over four hours, with nine -car InterCity 225 trains running twice an hour.
The Berlin-Munich route was originally built over two centuries ago, but the Germans have spent twenty-five years and many billions of euros punching a new route between Berlin and Nuremberg, through the difficult countryside of Thuringen Forest.
The route may allow the Germans to travel from Berlin to Munich in three hours fifty-five minutes, but at present you can only do it three times a day in a six-car train.
I took the lunchtime train and sat in First Class for a hundred and fourteen euros.
Deutsche Bahn have increased the trains on this route to five trains per day, but compared to London and Edinburgh on LNER, it is too infrequent, expensive with questionable customer service and not enough seats to give the airlines a run for their money.
A quick look on Rail Europe indicates that these routes have fast services at an hourly frequency or better.
- Madrid and Barcelona
- Milan and Rome
- Paris and Bordeaux
- Paris and Cologne
- Paris and Marseilles
- Venice and Naples
German rail services might be getting better, but not fast enough to take on the airlines.
From Munich To Karlsruhe
After a night’s rest by the station in the excellent Excelsior Jotel, it was on to Karlsruhe in the morning.
Note.
- There are not many non-stop trains on this route an d my train was pretty crowded.
- The journey took three hours and cost thirty euros.
- We arrived in Karlsruhe on time.
It could easily have been done in stages with perhaps stops at Augsburg and Stuttgart.
Pizza Again Last Night
It’s not often, I’ve ate pizza two nights running, but last night I went to Pizzesco after Cielo di Berlino in Berlin.
Both were gluten-free and washed done with Lammsbrau gluten-free beer.
If you give Pizza Express 7 out of 10, then Berlin would be 8 and Munich 9 or 10.
The only trouble with Pizzesco is that it gets busier every time I go.
The Excelsior In Munich Delivers
When I pass through Munich on my long trips, I generally stay in the Excelsior hotel by the Hbf (Hauptbahnhof).
- It is about a fifty metre walk from the station entrance.
- The hotel dies old-fashioned service at a reasonable price.
- The rooms are spacious and comfortable.
- It has baths.
- It does a proper cooked breakfast.
- It is convenient for the trams.
Once I needed a phone charger, so they sold me one for a couple of euros from their large collection guests had left behind.
From Berlin To Munich In Four Hours By Train
The length of the East Coast Main Line between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh is 632 kilometres.
Deutsche Bahn have recently completed an upgraded High Speed Line between Berlin and Munich, which has a length of 623 kilometres.
Both lines are not the very fastest of High Speed Lines, but lines where a consistent two hundred kilometres per hour is possible.
The East Coast Main Line was built in Victorian times and services typically take around twenty minutes over four hours, with nine -car InterCity 225 trains running twice an hour.
The Berlin-Munich route was originally built over two centuries ago, but the Germans have spent twenty-five years and many billions of euros punching a new route between Berlin and Nuremberg, through the difficult countryside of Thuringen Forest.
The route may allow the Germans to travel from Berlin to Munich in three hours fifty-five minutes, but at present you can only do it three times a day in a six-car train.
I took the lunchtime train and sat in First Class for a hundred and fourteen euros.
These are some of the pictures, that I took.
We were on time in Munich! Although reading an article in the February 2018 Edition of Modern Railways and talking to other passengers, the introduction of the service had been far from smooth, due to signalling issues.
Just as British Rail’s four-hour service took passengers from the airlines, Deutsche Bahn’s intention is to do the same.
But they will have to improve things.
Service Frequency
Three six-car trains every day in under four hours is just not enough trains, to compete with the airlines.
The plans for the London to Edinburgh route include an all-day frequency of a train every thirty minutes and when the new Class 801 trains are running under control of modern signalling, then many of these trains will do the journey in under four hours.
Route Capacity
The trains need to offer more capacity to provide a service to compete with the airlines.
Customer Service
In my four-hour journey, I was offered just one hot drink! I took a cup of hot chocolate and I had to pay a few euros for it.
I’m sure, Virgin Trains East Coast offer a better service on the East Coast route.
Conclusion
Properly developed, this route can become one of Europe’s main trunk rail routes.
The Modern Railways article compares the service with the new Paris-Bordeaux High Speed Line.
Howeer, DB’s initial offering seems rather timid – 17 trains each way (compare this to the service between Paris and Bordeaux after opening of a new line in July 2017 – 27 trains each way daily!).
The article finishes with this paragraph.
When the Berlin to Nuremberg plan was being developed in the mid-1990s both the Government and DB assumed up to 137 trains each way would use the new line. It was expected the majority would be freight, with at least 20 ICE services each way as well as slower semi-fast services. Currently 35 ICE services use the full line with 18 regional services using the 20 km. section too. Freight traffic has not yet begun and seems unlikely to for several more years, if at all.
Deutsche Bahn has a lot of work to do.
If they get this service right, it must open up a lot of possibilities for new business and leisure services.
As an example, I’ve come across many Americans, Canadians and others on East Coast Main Line services, who’ve flown into Scotland and after visiting Edinburgh, London and possibly Paris, will fly back West.
Berlin to Munich must surely open up similar possibilities in Germany.
From Munich To Karlsruhe
This was very much an uneventful leg on rather a full train.
As it was raining for the first part, I didn’t take many pictures worth publicising. This is perhaps the only one worth showing.
A Karlsruhe Tram-Train At Bruchsal Station
It shows an tram-train, probably on the run from Karlsruhe at Bruchsal station.
It is actually an S32, which has a route of.
Achern – Baden-Baden – Rastatt – Muggensturm – Hauptbahnhof – Durlach – Bruchsal – Menzingen
I reckon that’s a total distance of nearly a hundred kilometres, which goes right across Karlsruhe, although it goes via Duurlack and Hauptbahnhof, rather than along the main street.
Karlsruhe’s tram-trains certainly have strong invasion tendencies.
A Tram Map In Munich
When it comes to local transport and walking maps, it’s a case of the bigger the better.
A Large Munich Tram Map
This was in the tram information centre in Munich Hauptbahnhof.
Every main station should have a local transport information centre and the largest map possible.
At the station, I also took this picture.
Tram Sign In Munich
I was going for supper and I needed to get a tram 16 to St. Emmeram, which would drop me in the area of one of the best gluten-free pizzadromes in Europe; Pizzesco.
So what could go wrong?
There was a demonstration in the area and the trams stopped running, leaving me in a part of MunichI didn’t know!
Although, Pizzesco was very crowded and I had to wait, I eventually got my delicious pizza and a bottle of gluten-free beer.
Coming back to my hotel, I eventually found a tram outside the Deutsche Museum.
From Villach To Munich
This section of route had the major stop at Salzburg.
It was still raining, but at least I was clean and dry in First Class.
It would have been a much better trip in the sun, as for a lot of the route, the train runs on the Tauern Railway
Even my wet pictures show how spectacular it could be.
The Anonymous Widower 