Canadian Pacific’s southern merger puts zero-carb freight in easy reach by guest blogger Stan Thompson Canadian Pacific Railway has throttled-up the transition to zero-carbon freight movement by two big notches recently. Last December, 2020, CPR announced “that it plans to develop North America’s first line-haul hydrogen-powered locomotive.” Then in March, 2021, they announced a combination with • Read More »
Archives: News
Niligence – What’s Missing from the Nikola-GM Brouhaha
September 23, 2020 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Niligence – What’s Missing from the Nikola-GM Brouhaha | Filed in: Critics, Hydrogen Highways, Hydrogen Trucks, Hydrogen Vehicles, News.by guest blogger Stan Thompson New Testament, Book of Matthew, Chapter 7, verse 3: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? This familiar passage is quoted not because scripture proves anything about GM, Nikola or pundit journalism but • Read More »
“Why Nations Fail” — A great read with an H2 epilog
July 16, 2020 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on “Why Nations Fail” — A great read with an H2 epilog | Filed in: Advocates, Green Hydrogen, History, Hydrogen Economy, Hydrogen Education, Hydrogen Fuel Production, Infrastructure, News, Political Issues.by guest blogger Stan Thompson Davidson College is near our NC home and its proximity offers neighbors access to an astonishing parade of great minds. In 1962 I met cosmologist George Gamow there and got to ask him a few questions. Albert Einstein had died only seven years earlier; some would say Gamow was his • Read More »
The Hydrogen Transition: Kubrick’s “2001” monolith
June 20, 2020 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on The Hydrogen Transition: Kubrick’s “2001” monolith | Filed in: History, Hydrail, Hydrogen Aircraft, Hydrogen Economy, Hydrogen Education, Hydrogen Organizations, Infrastructure, Myths, News, Political Issues.by guest blogger Stan Thompson The world may little note nor long remember the routine June 8, 2020, press release by Germany’s venerable Thyssenkrupp industrial giant. But to me it is a transition marker that’s profound in the same way that the tiny band of iridium and ash around the world marks the cretaceous-tertiary boundary • Read More »
Could Russia pioneer high-speed hydrail?
December 21, 2019 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Could Russia pioneer high-speed hydrail? | Filed in: History, Hydrail, Infrastructure, News, Political Issues.by guest blogger Stan Thompson When Russia and Japan recently exchanged econdev ideas (December 2019) at the ministerial level, two of the specifics discussed were hydrogen production and greater use of the Trans-Siberia Railway. Those two dots, connected with others, could lead to Russia leaping the high speed bump now obstructing the way to wireless fuel cell • Read More »
Shirtsleeves Hydrail Stations
September 26, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Shirtsleeves Hydrail Stations | Filed in: History, Hydrail, Hydrogen Vehicles, Hyrail, Infrastructure, News, Uncategorized.by guest blogger Stan Thompson On Sunday, September 16, 2018, at Bremervörde, in the State of Niedersachsen, Germany, I boarded the first intercity hydrail train—my dream since 2003! It was Alstom’s shiny new blue Coradia iLint Hydrogen Multiple Unit light rail train, wireless electric and silent as the wind turbines on the North German horizon • Read More »
North Carolina pioneering hydrail in USA
September 4, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on North Carolina pioneering hydrail in USA | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Vehicles, Infrastructure, News.a first step toward bringing hydrail back home by guest blogger, Stan Thompson North Carolina operates its own passenger railway service. The State Department of Transportation has begun plans to modify the locomotives on its line from the State Capital (Raleigh) to the State’s biggest city, (Charlotte) to be powered electrically by hydrogen via fuel • Read More »
A Triumph In Rome: 13th International Hydrail Conference
June 17, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on A Triumph In Rome: 13th International Hydrail Conference | Filed in: Conferences, Hydrail, Infrastructure, News.by guest blogger Stan Thompson The University of Rome II at Tor Vergata hosted the Thirteenth International Hydrail Conference the week of June 4, 2018, and it was a delightful success! Professor Stefano Cordiner and his colleagues saw that the Conference ran like a well-oiled clock (Tutto era semplicemente perfetto! Grazie!). The IHC’s have come • Read More »
Will hydrail connect North and South Korea?
May 13, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Will hydrail connect North and South Korea? | Filed in: History, Hydrail, Infrastructure, News, Political Issues.by guest blogger Stan Thompson Last Thursday (10 May 2018), Choe San-Hun wrote in the New York Times that, during their recent historic encounter, South Korean President Moon Jae-in handed North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un a “USB drive” containing an infrastructure vision including railway modernization. Mr. Choe does not mention hydrogen fuel cell railways but, • Read More »
First presentation ride aboard Alstom’s German hydrail train
April 15, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on First presentation ride aboard Alstom’s German hydrail train | Filed in: Fuel Cells, History, Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, News.by guest blogger Stan Thompson A major milestone in railway history was passed on April 13, 2018, when Alstom Transport’s Coradia iLint hydrail [hydrogen fuel cell rail] train made a “presentation ride” from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt, in the federal state of Hesse, Germany. From my point of view it was a bittersweet occasion for two • Read More »