Hydrogen Cars, Vehicles and Infrastructure
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 […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger, Stan Thompson Let’s limit the damage to hydrogen progress caused by “friendly fire.” Good reportage, scholarship and fair play do not require that every article point out that most hydrogen comes from extracted carbon. It’s true, it’s undeniable—but it’s totally irrelevant. The vast amounts of hydrogen produced from hydrocarbons to make petrochemicals, […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson Everything seems to have a Ukraine connection these days. Why not hydrail (H2 fuel cell rail traction)? Per Wikipedia, in 1880, several years before Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, a Ukrainian engineer named Pyotr Pirotsky introduced the world’s first electric “tram” (European for “streetcar”) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Soon Pirotsky connected […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson Fifteen years ago the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy introduced the public to the hydrail future of the railway industry in an invited article, “The Mooresville Hydrail Initiative” (February 2004: volume 29, issue 4, page 438). One main reason for the IJHE article was to establish […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger, Stan Thompson When Dr. Holger Busche conceived wind turbine powered commuter trains for Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, back in 1998, he probably had a business model in mind, though he is a committed environmentalist. But by the time I presented the passenger hydrail concept to the US DOT in 2003, the environmental angle had become […]
Continue Readingby 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 […]
Continue Readingby 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, […]
Continue Readingby 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 […]
Continue Readingby Guest Blogger Stan Thompson A headline in the January 2018 online issue of Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers publication is the latest hydrail transition landmark: Transport Secretary calls for hydrogen trains Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has said the introduction of hydrogen-powered trains is “a priority” for Britain’s railways. The article by Amit Katwala goes […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger, Stan Thompson The Twelfth International Hydrail Conference next week (27-28 June 2017) in Graz, Austria, will be very different from the first of its kind in Charlotte NC, back in 2005. To begin with, our secondary objective now is to integrate the efforts of companies like Alstom Transport and China Railway Rolling-stock […]
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