SNCF has just formalized the order for twelve "dual-mode" trains, either hydrogen and electric, in four regions.
They will be similar to the latest generations of TER with four trains and 220 seats.
They will be able to ensure journeys of 600 kilometers, even on non-electrified lines.
Hydrogen trains in France are on the rails.
SNCF has just formalized the order for the first twelve trains from Alstom.
It will be TER and they should arrive in 2023, in four regions that have signed up for these “zero emission” trains: Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est.
But what will these new trains look like?
Hydrogen and electric, these trains, which the SNCF calls "dual-mode", will be similar to the very latest generations of TER: four cars and 220 seats.
>>
Find the morning show of the day in replay and podcast here
A range of 600 kilometers on non-electrified lines
And these new trains will have an autonomy that can ensure journeys of 600 kilometers, even on non-electrified lines, announces Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs.
"The train will automatically switch to hydrogen energy," he explains.
"On portions of lines, it will use the overhead line and therefore the source of electrical energy. As soon as there is no longer any overhead line, today it switched to diesel and from 2023, it will switch to hydrogen and therefore, we will continue to have completely clean transport ".
>> READ ALSO -
In France, projects on "green hydrogen" are multiplying
Until then, the SNCF will train its railway workers in fuel cell techniques.
The future TER mix the hydrogen on board and the oxygen present in the ambient air thanks to this famous battery, installed in the roof, which produces the electricity necessary for the traction of the train.
They only release water vapor.
2,000 jobs mobilized
These new trains will be 100% Alstom.
Six of the group's fifteen French sites will be called upon: design and assembly in Reichshoffen, in the Bas-Rhin, development of hydrogen propulsion in Tarbes in the Hautes-Pyrénées or even on-board IT in Villeurbanne.
Nearly 2,000 jobs are mobilized on this project, at Alstom but also at its suppliers.
The company is a pioneer in the hydrogen train, with a technology developed in its Tarbes plant.
It circulated its first prototypes in Germany in 2018 and has now entered an industrial phase, with 41 orders to date.
The French group also sold models in Italy.