Hydrogen Cars, Vehicles and Infrastructure
Graz, Austria — 27-28 June, 2017 by guest blogger, Stan Thompson It’s been a dozen years since former Mooresville, NC, USA, Mayor Bill Thunberg, Appalachian State University Research Anaylst, Jason W. Hoyle and I first undertook to midwife hydrogen fuel cell based railway traction into being. Our goal was mostly environmental but we also had a […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger, Stan Thompson Media covering the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week missed one of the biggest stories there. The new Hydrogen Council announced at the Forum included Alstom Transport, the Paris-based train builder that’s sold 40-50 hydrail trains to four German states. Last year the German Federal Ministry of Transport published an […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson Most profound thanks from the Mooresville Hydrail Initiative to the editors of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy for the cover story on the 2003 American* origin of hydrogen fuel cell passenger railways in the December, 2016, issue! We don’t know of another instance where major elements of the world’s infrastructure (diesel and catenary railway electrification) have […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson It’s been 18 years since Dr. Holger Busche proposed that German electric passenger trains could run on wind energy carried on board as hydrogen. Once pointed out, it was an obvious thing to pursue; but the first German hydrail train won’t go into service until late next year. The impediment hasn’t […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson This year’s “11-IHC” is the first event since the International Hydrail Conference series began in 2005 when a major focus of the agenda will be on hydrogen fuel cell passenger railway equipment already being manufactured and in service. (see http://www.hydrail.org) China now has two hydrail trams in production. One is […]
Continue ReadingBy guest blogger Stan Thompson In 2005 in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the benefit of society a handful of citizens, companies and agencies set about changing the railroad traction paradigm for the first time since 1925 when diesel began replacing steam. The societal benefits being pursued were climate change mitigation; air pollution reduction; and the […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson The Tenth International Hydrail Conference (“10-IHC”) came home to Mooresville, North Carolina, on June 22-23 and it was a resounding success for a number of reasons. Our twenty presenters were a delightful mix of pros from previous IHCs, academics, railroad professionals, VIPs and Brad Read, President of TIG/m, who built the hydrail […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson This update follows much farther behind the wonderfully successful 9th International Hydrail Conference in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany (June 2014) than I had intended. The reason is one I can’t regret: the cast of international players on the hydrail stage has grown so large, and there are so many intertwining plots, that I can hardly keep up […]
Continue Readingby guest blogger Stan Thompson Neumünster, in the Northern German State of Schleswig-Holstein, will host the Ninth International Hydrail Conference (“9IHC”) on 16-18 June this year (2014). This year’s registration details, presenters and agenda information appear on the Appalachian State University hydrail web site, http://www.hydrail.org. German support for the Hydrail Conference has proved so strong that, for the […]
Continue Readingby Guest Blogger Stan Thompson A version of this post originally appeared January 12, 2014, in my Mooresville [NC] Tribune newspaper column. Last month, when China’s Jade Rabbit lunar explorer touched down on the moon, it may have given the world a hint about that country’s railroad vision. As the pundits observed, China didn’t replicate the American […]
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