UK hydrogen, biogas trains project lands govt funding
UK rail freight provider Freightliner and a group of partners have secured government funding to develop a Class 66 locomotive that can run on both hydrogen and biogas, it said earlier this month.
Though widely used in road transport, this will mark the first time such technology has been applied to locomotive transport, Freightliner said. The company, which operates over 110 Class-66 locomotives in the UK, is joined in the initiative by Clean Air Power, a developer of clean air solutions for freight, with additional support from Network Rail, Tarmac, Rail Safety Standards Board, Flogas, Carrickarory and the university of Birmingham.
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Work on the project will commence this month and continue for nine months. Freightliner and its partners secured the funding after winning the latest round of the First of a Kind competition, arranged by the transport secretary to support innovations in rail transport.
"With decarbonisation high on the agenda, these initiatives will further support the government’s pledge to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050," Freightliner's UK rail managing director, Tim Shakerley, commented.
"All parties are focused on delivering a fully functioning low-carbon, low-emission, hydrogen-friendly Class 66 locomotive," added Dan Skelton, managing director of Clean Air Power. "Our solution offers a route to viable, long-term decarbonisation and its associated cost benefits, which will be practical to implement and scale."