Hydrogen powered trains?!

[stickyvicky]

Go Germany! How exciting is this? What are they saying about this at home Liz? Looks pretty impressive from here!


https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cora ... 1423570276

[ErikB]

Go Germany! How exciting is this? What are they saying about this at home Liz? Looks pretty impressive from here!


https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cora ... 1423570276

Nice livery! I had heard the term "livery" now and again without bothering to look up what it meant. Then the YouTube channel I watch train videos on used it, and I figured I should get around to looking it up. It means paint job. I will try to look at the fuel numbers later. It looks like a neat train, and if it is coming online soon perhaps the YouTube train channel will review it. He will often give the stats of whatever engine is pulling the train he is riding. He also gives functionality and cleanliness reviews of all the cars (seats and bicycle space), sleeper rooms if the trip is long enough, and, of course, the toilets! His English is pretty good, although his first language is French.

Here is his review of his trip from Seattle to Chicago on Amtrak's Empire Builder. He travels a lot of different places to do his reviews. At the end of this one, he compliments Amtrak's new engines for being environmentally friendly. So, here's hoping he reviews the train Vicky posted about.

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[LizLemon85]

I hadn't heard about it, I watch and read the news, but all the good news tend to get buried by the bad news.
But I just read another article about it and it is an awesome invention and a lot cheaper than electrifying all the rails like they did in Switzerland (they use electric trains).
What they need though to make it even better (being German, I am legally obligated to complain about everything) is an eco-friendly source to get the hydrogen because right now, the climate footprint is worse than using diesel.
But they're working on it and apparently it's just a matter of time, so really good news!

[WalterB]

Erik, I first heard of ;livery' regarding planes. An article might be about a new plane commemorating something. The article might say, "The new jet was wheeled out in the livery of the Koala Institute."

[Davest]

What they need though to make it even better (being German, I am legally obligated to complain about everything) is an eco-friendly source to get the hydrogen because right now, the climate footprint is worse than using diesel.

Yeah, being an Engineer (not the train kind, LOL), my first thought was that Hydrogen may burn cleanly, but it is very expensive to produce. Unless they can come up with new, better, more efficient way to produce it, it will only be slightly better than fossil fuels. There are always new manufacturing methods being thought of, researched, tested, and brought online, so I'm hopeful it will soon be a big environmental win that can spread all over the world.