The "TMH Engineering" division is actively developing documentation. A prototype hydrogen-powered train will be created no earlier than 2025. The train will be tested in the Sakhalin Region. In 2019, the regional authorities, together with Russian Railways and Rosatom, entered into a cooperation agreement. According to it, Rosatom will handle hydrogen refueling stations, as well as produce and supply hydrogen fuel for them, Transmashholding will develop and assemble the hydrogen train, and Russian Railways will be the customer.
The estimated cost of a two-car train is 405 million rubles, and a three-car train is 492 million rubles. Russian Railways intends to invest 261 million rubles in the project, and Rosatom - about 9.2 million euros. In addition, the nuclear scientists will receive tax incentives from the authorities, as well as reduced tariffs for electricity and natural gas.
Hydrogen for trains will be produced by steam reforming of methane with carbon dioxide capture. Rosatom plans to export it from Sakhalin to Japan, providing 40% of the demand.
The world's first hydrogen train appeared in northwestern Germany in September 2018. It can travel about 1,000 kilometers on a single refueling and develops a maximum speed of 140 km/h. The train is almost silent. The hydrogen fuel is located in a tank on the roof of the train, where there is also a fuel cell that converts the resulting energy into electric current. Its excess is accumulated by lithium-ion batteries located under the floor. The train was developed by the French engineering company Alstom.
Hydrogen transport is a promising direction. www1.ru previously wrote about how Russia is already developing a hydrogen truck, as well as a prototype hydrogen electric vessel.
