I’ve talked about hydrail 13 times in the past and this will make the 14th time. Hydrail (hydrogen rail trains) is an often overlooked subject by the mainstream media, so I like to present it here.
The Hydrail conference is both US and internationally focused as past gatherings have been held in places such as Charlotte, NC, USA, Herning, Denmark, Salisbury, NC, Valencia, Spain, Charlotte, NC and now Istanbul, Turkey.
The purpose of the hydrail conferences is to foster communication and collaboration among universities, public industries and the various governments. Hydrogen powered trains offer a clean alternative to the diesel trains that now ride the rails.
The ambitions for hydrail include the building and conversion of commuter trains, locomotives used for shipping, trains used in rail yards and trolleys (hydrolley). Hydrogen trains make sense from a practical standpoint in regard to the refueling infrastructure.
Unlike automobiles that wander the highways and byways of each country, trains run particular routes and refuel in particular locations. These particular locations can be equipped with hydrogen fueling stations, in a similar way that corporate fleets refuel their hydrogen cars generally from one location.
Here are some key points from Appalachian State University, “The conference is being co-hosted by the Istanbul-based International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies and Appalachian State University’s Energy Center. The event will feature the latest research, deployment opportunities and industry developments in the Middle East, Japan, Korea, European Union and the United States, as well as a presentation by the first-ever doctoral candidate focused on hydrogen train technology. “
The Sixth International Hydrail Conference will be hosted July 1 – 2, 2010 in Istanbul Turkey and will help the government in Turkey to understand and accept hydrail as a necessary clean mode of transport for that country going forward.
Thanks so much for helping get the word out about hydrail—hydrogen railway traction—which, with marine applications, is by far the easiest way to use hydrogen to power transportation!
You will be pleased to know that presenters at the 6IHC in Istanbul this year are from government agencies and universities in Korea, India, Italy, Turkey, Japan, Russia, Spain, the USA and (if travel funding comes through from their respective organizations in these tough times) Canada and the EU HQ in Belgium.
Our host, ICHET (the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technology) is an associate of both the Turkish Government and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Part of ICHET’s mission is to help emerging economies leap-frog over environmentally problematic legacy technologies such as petroleum and go directly to technologies like hydrogen, which provide the enabling link between intermittent renewable energy sources (PV, solar concentration, wind, hydro, etc.) and the electric grid and vehicle propulsion.
If the public can be made aware that hydrogen enables FAR MORE than just automobiles, it will provide cover for legislators and administrations to move faster toward the hydrogen economy.
But if the public stays under the delusion that hydrogen is just “a car thing that’s decades out,” a lot of low-hanging environmental fruit will remain tragically unplucked.
Thanks for all you and your blog are doing to shed clear light on hydrogen’s real potential!
—Stan Thompson and HEAT, the Hydrogen Economy Advancement Team