36 min
Hydrogen’s Future in Rail – Guided by Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting Exploring Hydrogen
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- Technology
Exploring Hydrogen ep 15 - Shownotes
Intro:
In this episode we’re geeking out about Hydrogen trains with Troy Shorley, Technical Director and Daniel Koning, Principal Consultant and Subject Matter Expert from Deutsche Bahn.
Deutsche Bahn currently has the largest fleet of hydrogen trains in the world, so in this episode, we enjoyed welcoming two of their experts on low and zero-emission technologies to take a deeper dive. DB Engineering and Consulting is working in 84 nations worldwide, providing railway engineering, and railway consulting operations services.
Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting is part of the Deutsche Bahn Group in Germany, the owner and operator of the Rail Network in Germany. Deutsche Bahn Group employs 320,000 people worldwide and DB Engineering & Consulting employs over 5,000 people.
Bios:
Troy is an Electrical Engineer with over 20 years of experience in electricity, transmission rail and engineering consultancy.
He has extensive experience in rail traction systems, low and zero-emission technologies, and examining the different technologies and their interdependence within rail traction systems. He is an expert in system design, earthing, and bonding system integration, as well as construction and commissioning supervision.
Daniel is a subject matter expert for railway systems and low and zero-emission technologies. He has 21 years of experience in the railway sector and over 10 years focused on innovative railway technologies and digitization. He has worked on major Australian and international projects across Europe, the USA, and Latin America as the Lead Subject Matter Expert, at Zero Emission Technologies.
03.10 - What is the opportunity/use-case for Hydrogen Trains?
Introducing hydrogen technology to trains would significantly contribute to decarbonising the transport sector. Hydrogen can bridge non-electrified gaps in our network where battery systems will be insufficient and where overhead continuing electrification can't be justified because the line frequency is not high enough.
05.00 – What percentage of the railway network in Germany is electric? And the decarbonisation opportunity for high-speed trains displacing short-haul flights
Currently, 65% of the network is electric and achieving 100% is not viable due to some of the lines being rural and certain areas that are not populated so the cost of electrification is too high.
Another opportunity is the decarbonisation of Australia, and one of the strategies Germany uses to reduce the overall decarbonization of transport is to replace short-haul flights with high-speed rail intercity express services.
7:00- Other options available (eg Battery /Biofuels/synfuels etc) to decarbonise the sector
The best option for highly frequented railway corridors is full electrification since the overall system efficiency is roughly 85 to 90% and you can't beat that.
When you can't justify full electrification for shorter routes currently up to a hundred kilometres that are non-electrified, then battery electric traction is a good alternative. You can recover braking energy and also have a higher system efficiency when the stretches are getting a little bit longer. Battery technology currently can't cope with that and also when the power demand is a little bit bigger, especially for freight transport. Hydrogen is a very interesting alternative, the fuel system can provide the range and combined with a battery system it can cope with a high power demand. And as an intermediate solution, we can look at renewable carbon-based fuels. They're also a way to quickly decarbonize railway traffic, and they are potentially a drop-in solution for existing diesel fleets.
9:10 - FFI is looking at ammonia for their train line supporting one of their mines in WA.
Hydrogen is interesting, but the range you can achieve is limited due to the volumetric energy, density, and ammonia is a very interesting hydroge
Exploring Hydrogen ep 15 - Shownotes
Intro:
In this episode we’re geeking out about Hydrogen trains with Troy Shorley, Technical Director and Daniel Koning, Principal Consultant and Subject Matter Expert from Deutsche Bahn.
Deutsche Bahn currently has the largest fleet of hydrogen trains in the world, so in this episode, we enjoyed welcoming two of their experts on low and zero-emission technologies to take a deeper dive. DB Engineering and Consulting is working in 84 nations worldwide, providing railway engineering, and railway consulting operations services.
Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting is part of the Deutsche Bahn Group in Germany, the owner and operator of the Rail Network in Germany. Deutsche Bahn Group employs 320,000 people worldwide and DB Engineering & Consulting employs over 5,000 people.
Bios:
Troy is an Electrical Engineer with over 20 years of experience in electricity, transmission rail and engineering consultancy.
He has extensive experience in rail traction systems, low and zero-emission technologies, and examining the different technologies and their interdependence within rail traction systems. He is an expert in system design, earthing, and bonding system integration, as well as construction and commissioning supervision.
Daniel is a subject matter expert for railway systems and low and zero-emission technologies. He has 21 years of experience in the railway sector and over 10 years focused on innovative railway technologies and digitization. He has worked on major Australian and international projects across Europe, the USA, and Latin America as the Lead Subject Matter Expert, at Zero Emission Technologies.
03.10 - What is the opportunity/use-case for Hydrogen Trains?
Introducing hydrogen technology to trains would significantly contribute to decarbonising the transport sector. Hydrogen can bridge non-electrified gaps in our network where battery systems will be insufficient and where overhead continuing electrification can't be justified because the line frequency is not high enough.
05.00 – What percentage of the railway network in Germany is electric? And the decarbonisation opportunity for high-speed trains displacing short-haul flights
Currently, 65% of the network is electric and achieving 100% is not viable due to some of the lines being rural and certain areas that are not populated so the cost of electrification is too high.
Another opportunity is the decarbonisation of Australia, and one of the strategies Germany uses to reduce the overall decarbonization of transport is to replace short-haul flights with high-speed rail intercity express services.
7:00- Other options available (eg Battery /Biofuels/synfuels etc) to decarbonise the sector
The best option for highly frequented railway corridors is full electrification since the overall system efficiency is roughly 85 to 90% and you can't beat that.
When you can't justify full electrification for shorter routes currently up to a hundred kilometres that are non-electrified, then battery electric traction is a good alternative. You can recover braking energy and also have a higher system efficiency when the stretches are getting a little bit longer. Battery technology currently can't cope with that and also when the power demand is a little bit bigger, especially for freight transport. Hydrogen is a very interesting alternative, the fuel system can provide the range and combined with a battery system it can cope with a high power demand. And as an intermediate solution, we can look at renewable carbon-based fuels. They're also a way to quickly decarbonize railway traffic, and they are potentially a drop-in solution for existing diesel fleets.
9:10 - FFI is looking at ammonia for their train line supporting one of their mines in WA.
Hydrogen is interesting, but the range you can achieve is limited due to the volumetric energy, density, and ammonia is a very interesting hydroge
36 min