What was red is blue, where diesel flowed, hydrogen flows.

The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) presented the first vehicle in the new hydrogen train fleet on Monday.

The 500 million euro project "with several superlatives", according to the RMV managing director Knut Ringat, not only makes the transport association, but also the federal and state government confident.

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) speaks of hydrogen as the “great hope” for the climate goals in transport.

The State Secretary of the Hessian Ministry of Transport, Jens Deutschendorf (Die Grünen), also sees the hydrogen train as a "key element in the energy transition".

Carlota Brandis

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With a total of 27 hydrogen-powered vehicles, the fleet is the largest of its kind in the world.

The first hydrogen trains from the Alstom Group will be running in the Rhine-Main area in just ten weeks, and the remaining 17 passenger trains are to follow by the end of June.

In total, they will be used on four routes in the Taunus network.

On the regional train (RB) line 11 (Frankfurt-Höchst-Bad Soden), on the RB 12 (Frankfurt-Königstein), the RB 15 (Frankfurt-Brandoberndorf) and the RB 16 (Bad Homburg-Friedberg).

The regional train line 15 is the first route on which the new trains will run with passengers.

Not just “green”

Each train not only saves 700 tons of CO2 emissions per year, but also changes the appearance of the regional transport infrastructure in the Rhine-Main area.

From the outside, the train appears in white and blue - a nod to the symbolic color for water.

But to make it even clearer, atoms of water and oxygen adorn the middle part of the vehicle.

This pattern is also repeated inside: the seat cushions show the chemical origin of the fuel.

The hydrogen used comes from the Industriepark Höchst.

In addition to a newly installed five-megawatt electrolyser, the energy source is largely generated as a by-product from chemical production in the industrial park.

What was previously considered a waste product will now power the fleet.

In addition to a hydrogen tank and a fuel cell, the trains also have hydrogen storage.

In this way, continuous operation can be guaranteed.

However, a mixture of electricity from renewable and fossil energy sources is used to generate hydrogen in the industrial park.

Therefore, the new fleet is not exclusively powered by "green" hydrogen and is not completely emission-free.

Joachim Kreysing, Managing Director of the industrial park operator Infraserv, describes the energy source for the train fleet as "half green".

The RMV is responsible for everything beyond that.

However, Ringat does not see the transport association as responsible for this.

"More must be done" at the federal level for green hydrogen.

According to Wissing, 62 percent of public transport in Germany is already powered by overhead lines.

"The rest almost exclusively with diesel." Hydrogen trains are now to close the gap here and the investment by RMV should be a role model for other regions.

The technology behind the fleet is particularly decisive: a hydrogen tank lasts over 1000 kilometers.

This means that emission-free hydrogen trains can be used on sections of the route where overhead lines are technically unfeasible.

According to Wissing, Germany can only achieve its ambitious climate goals if the energy industry and thus traffic are realigned.

"It will be an enormous effort and a task for society as a whole." But with hydrogen it could be possible.

The traffic light coalition wants to achieve the goal of electrifying 75 percent of rail transport by 2030.

Evelyn Palla, board member of DB Regio, says that Deutsche Bahn even wants to be completely climate-neutral by 2040.

What will be implemented in the Taunus network in December "is our responsibility beyond the state borders".

Müslüm Yakisan from hydrogen train developer Alstom says the company is in contact with several states.

The interest is enormous.

In Lower Saxony there are even hydrogen trains in regional transport, but not in large numbers.

Next, talks with the state government in Bavaria could become more concrete.