Alstom said it has demonstrated the effectiveness of its hydrogen-powered solutions for long-distance transportation with the latest Coradia iLint. A Coradia iLint train covered approximately 730 miles without refueling the hydrogen tank, only emitting water and operating with very low levels of noise, according to Alstom's news release. 

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 said it also partnered with the gas and engineering company Linde. 

“We are pleased to be leading innovation in this area as the first railway manufacturer in the world to offer a passenger train based on hydrogen technology. With this journey, we have provided further proof that our hydrogen trains have all the prerequisites to replace diesel vehicles,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO/chairman of the Board at Alstom. “We are immensely proud of the pioneering work we have done in introducing hydrogen to rail transport.” 

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 traveled through Hesse to Bavaria, to Burghausen near the German-Austrian border before coming to a stop in Munich. Following this journey, the train will now head for the German capital, according to Alstom.