Sinara Group, Rusnano, and Russian Railways have signed an agreement on the development of hydrogen locomotives for freight transport activities. In addition to lithium-ion batteries, electrical power is supplied by electrochemical hydrogen fuel cells.
RUSNANO Chairman of the Management Board Sergey Kulikov, Russian Railways Chairman Oleg Belozerov, and Sinara Group President Dmitry Pumpyansky signed the agreement.
RZD will be the potential customer for the new locomotives. Sinara Transport Machines (STM); Rusnano will be a co-contractor developing hydrogen fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries, and other innovative technologies.
In addition to a number of other activities, the agreement provides for a comprehensive analysis of the necessary infrastructure, both for highway and mainline freight locomotives.
Russia’s railways are implementing energy-efficiency projects to protect the environment, and by 2025, they will be using only electric and alternative fuel locomotives such as those powered with natural gas and hydrogen. The reduction in the environmental burden is even more significant as a result of this,” said Oleg Belozerov, CEO of RZD.
As Sergey Kulikov put it, “the agreement is an example of how to create alliances for the development of promising technologies which will use alternative fuel resources. Hydrogen and electric transport are especially promising nowadays, and RUSNANO is actively promoting this focus.”
“We see how the environment sets a new trend for the further development of the entire railway engineering industry. Hydrogen transport on the railway can solve the problems of reducing emissions, noise and vibration. According to our estimates, prototypes of mainline and shunting locomotives can be created in 2023-2024, ”noted Dmitry Pumpyansky.
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