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Berlin / Tübingen (dpa) - Hydrogen trains could one day replace diesel trains at Deutsche Bahn and thus improve the climate balance.
A trial run in the Tübingen area is planned for 2024, as the company announced on Monday.
The Siemens train should have a range of 600 kilometers.
"The climate-friendly traffic turnaround is possible," said rail board member Sabina Jeschke.
In 30 years' time, Deutsche Bahn wants to be climate-neutral.
Among other things, 1,300 diesel multiple units have to be replaced for this.
Because 13,000 kilometers of rail have no overhead lines, that is 39 percent of the network.
Electrification is progressing very slowly.
Often times, the routes without a power supply are not particularly busy.
For such sections, Deutsche Bahn is also testing hybrid locomotives with diesel and batteries.
There should also be pure battery trains.
Experiments are also being carried out with so-called eco-diesel made from waste fats.
Because even with electricity, the trains are not clean.
The share of green electricity in traction current is 60 percent.
The aim is 100 percent for 2038.
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For the Tübingen hydrogen train, Deutsche Bahn is converting the Ulm maintenance facility and developing a mobile hydrogen filling station.
The hydrogen should be produced in Tübingen with green electricity.
The train will replace a diesel multiple unit between Tübingen, Horb and Pforzheim for a year, it said.
This makes it possible to save 330 tons of carbon dioxide a year.
Railway press releases