Archives: Hydrail

Hydrail Transition: The Catenary versus the Hindenburg

February 12, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail Transition: The Catenary versus the Hindenburg | Filed in: Advocates, Hydrail, Hydrogen Safety, Infrastructure, Myths.

by Guest Blogger Stan Thompson A headline in the January 2018 online issue of Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers publication is the latest hydrail transition landmark: Transport Secretary calls for hydrogen trains Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has said the introduction of hydrogen-powered trains is “a priority” for Britain’s railways. The article by Amit Katwala goes • Read More »

Hydrail provenance: Thanks, James Neal !

June 21, 2017 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail provenance: Thanks, James Neal ! | Filed in: Conferences, Fuel Cells, Hydrail, Infrastructure.

by guest blogger, Stan Thompson The Twelfth International Hydrail Conference next week (27-28 June 2017) in Graz, Austria, will be very different from the first of its kind in Charlotte NC, back in 2005. To begin with, our secondary objective now is to integrate the efforts of companies like Alstom Transport and China Railway Rolling-stock • Read More »

Hydrail: A Pullet Surprise

April 13, 2017 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail: A Pullet Surprise | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Hydrogen Vehicles, Infrastructure, News.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson If anyone out there is a friend of CNN’s Nadine Schmidt, please do five things: Buy Nadine a really nice steak dinner! Thank her for her excellent segment on hydrail April 12 (http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/12/technology/germany-hydrogen-powered-train/). Give her my eternal thanks for exhuming perhaps the deepest—and most regrettably—buried environmental story of the 21st century. Tell her about • Read More »

Hydrail at Davos: the “Hydrogen Council” on-track

January 23, 2017 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail at Davos: the “Hydrogen Council” on-track | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Aircraft, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, Myths.

by 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 • Read More »

The origin of hydrail and the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

December 7, 2016 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on The origin of hydrail and the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | Filed in: Conferences, History, Hydrail.

by 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 • Read More »

Hydrail Trains Are Running Too Late: Here’s Why

October 31, 2016 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail Trains Are Running Too Late: Here’s Why | Filed in: Advocates, Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, Myths, News.

by 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 • Read More »

Hydrail’s “Golden Spike” moment: Berlin, 2016

October 12, 2016 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail’s “Golden Spike” moment: Berlin, 2016 | Filed in: Conferences, Fuel Cells, Hydrail, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Jobs, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, Political Issues.

by guest blogger, Stan Thompson Hydrail is the term of art for electrifying railways wirelessly by storing electrical energy onboard as hydrogen and reconverting it, via fuel cells, as needed to power electric traction motors. In Berlin, Germany, around noon on September 20, 2016, hydrail had its moment in history, reminiscent of May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, • Read More »

Schleswig-Holstein, Germany: Big-Picture Hydrail

June 21, 2016 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Schleswig-Holstein, Germany: Big-Picture Hydrail | Filed in: Hydrail, Infrastructure.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson 21 June, 2016:  Today, Eva Grey, writing in Railway-Technology.com, described the quintessential model indicating where hydrail (hydrogen fuel cell railway) technology is headed. In her story, “German state thrusts hydrogen-powered hydrail into the spotlight,” Ms. Grey breaks the story of plans by the State of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany to convert • Read More »

Eleventh International Hydrail Conference: a first look at the program

June 15, 2016 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Eleventh International Hydrail Conference: a first look at the program | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Hydrogen Organizations, News, Uncategorized.

by 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 • Read More »

Where Are All the Hydrail (Hydrogen Trains) in California?

June 13, 2016 | By Hydro Kevin Kantola | Comments Off on Where Are All the Hydrail (Hydrogen Trains) in California? | Filed in: Hydrail.

Of all the U. S. states, California has shown the biggest commitment to clean transportation including fuel cell vehicles. In the Golden State there are fuel cell cars for sale and lease, fuel cell buses deployed north and south, plus fuel cell trucks and delivery vans gracing the roadways. With all of this commitment to • Read More »