Hydrogen train starts trials in Scotland

A former ScotRail Class 314 electric unit has been converted to a hydrogen-powered unit and has begun test runs. This will be the biggest change in the country’s rail propulsion for more than 60 years. Project chiefs even believe that these trails may bring in hydrogen trains into reality sooner rather than later. This comes after Hamburg official brought in their Hydrogen train into commercial service.

This new ScotRail train is running on the five-mile Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway heritage line near Linlithgow. Hydrogen is being considered due to the government’s promise to be Net-zero by 2050 which includes plans to scrap diesel-powered trains by 2035 as well as lower costs due to the small amount of electricity that runs through rural areas. In Aberdeen, they already have hydrogen powered double decker buses which are used every day so this won’t be a huge change for the Scottish people. This project will be led by the University of St Andrews in partnership with Transport Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, and Ballard Motive Solutions. The University of St Andrews brought out a statement saying ‘Planned testing of the innovative hydrogen-power train on the Bo’ness heritage line has been taking place throughout August and will continue into autumn.’ This will be exciting to see where this project will go and if it can get off the ground and maybe be introduced early on next year.