I’ve talked several times in the past about hyrail (or the Hydrogen Hi-Speed Rail Super Highway “H2RSH” as some are now calling it) by Interstate Traveler. In my past conversations with hyrail’s creator Justin Sutton, he indicated that the first hydrogen high-speed rail system may actually begin somewhere in Indonesia, where the need and political acceptance is the most accommodating right now.
And sure, enough, in three days from now, Bandung Institute of Technology transportation experts will start a 3-month feasibility study concerning the Interstate Traveler H2RSH project. If the feasibility study passes both technically and financially, the $3 billion hyrail project will begin building as early as 2012.
The Hydrogen Hi-Speed Rail Super Highway will cover approximately 221 miles from Cirebon, West Java, to Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Banten. The cutting edge hydrogen transportation project has even made the news inside Indonesia as can be seen on this Youtube video (this isn’t a “clean” video as there is other news on this clip as well).
According to the Jakarta Post, up to 15 firms now may be financially backing this project, “The 15 firms which could become involved include Aon Risk Service Inc, Aqua-PhyD Inc, Aruna Solutions, Asian Energy Limited, Tricap Group, Copernicus International, eCompass Group, Fidelity National Financial, Global Green Management, McGladry & Pullen, Modular Integrated Technologies, Obermeyer Planen+Beraten, Pembinaan Aktif Gemilang, The Interstate Traveller Company, and Tum Geotechnical Research.”
If the feasibility study passes, this will not only encourage the building of hyrail in West Java, but may encourage business and government in Michigan and Florida to do the same, since both of these states have already expressed a keen interest in this project.
I hope Justin Sutton proves the naysayers wrong about the benefits of a hydrogen
powered high speed rail system.
On a separate issue, I am concerned about Lake Mead in Arizona. The water level has been decreasing for 20 years or so. Justin Sutton’s Interstate Traveler concept could solve this problem if a line went from the California coast to Lake Mead. That train line could carry desalinated ocean water which could be dumped into lake Mead and other nearby depleted reservoirs. Maybe you don’t desalinate the water per se, maybe you use ocean water to produce hydrogen and then you use the waste water which will be potable I might add to save Lake Mead. A solar to hydrogen train should work in a desert that is currently experiencing a drought. Even in wet years, the Colorado River and Lake Mead are in a desert which receives very little rainfall.
Water is a hot topic that was on the CBS evening news with Katie Kouric this evening. The Obama Administration is pushing conservation and high taxes
to “protect” the environment, but it is not promoting the use of hydrogen technology to transform the transportation system at all.
I’ve been emailed by several people now cautioning me about this project, so I’m posting a link and will let you make up your own mind about this.
http://www.execulink.com/~impact/itc.html
I am not sure of Justin Sutton or a high speed railway system but I have read that BNSF has showed serious interest and I have heard from former employees that Union Pacific has had f/cell locomotives for some time and both already have just about everything that they will need already.If it gets there clean and cheap I am down.
It was even said that they could have only one central fueling point and on board storage space is not an issue as with passenger cars.
Does anyone remember an article in Popular Mechanics about a suspended mag-lev?They came to a conclusion that it could never happen in U.S. because of red tape since the speed of the train could not follow curves of existing highways.
Another question why have over 50 cities expressed interest or are planning fuel cell trolley systems when we have now fuel cell buses that can go anywhere that there are streets?
That would be a cool idea about collecting the water vapor exhaust,storing it onboard and then these cars could be routed efficiently and then dumped into areas hit by drought by the next passerby or that one of these loco units can be routed to city hit by disaster to supply enough generation to supply maybe the whole city.Both would be very beneficial to society in my opinion.
what???? it’s being realization? hmmm,…. need to wait for the beginning. exactly for those plan, it’s not easy to build. i hope, no peoples use them privat vehicle.. after the super highway already build, because maybe we will get very dense traffic here.