Dhe topic of hydrogen is only marginally mentioned in the coalition agreement signed by the CDU and the Greens in Hesse at the end of 2018. Hessen will implement the national investment program for hydrogen and fuel cell energy “and strengthen it through state measures”, it says there, which is anything but ambitious. And further: Start-up funding for the network expansion of hydrogen filling stations should also contribute to this.
Exuberance reads differently. Hydrogen should be one of the main solutions, especially for the Union and the Greens, if they are serious about their climate policy goals. Because if the current alliance partners in Wiesbaden have their way, the amount of climate-damaging emissions should be reduced by 40 percent by 2025 compared to the base year 1990. Even more: by 2050 at the latest, Hessen should be climate-neutral. In other words, either no more greenhouse gases should be released into the atmosphere or the emissions should be compensated so that there is no overall increase in the gas concentration.
Pioneer of hydrogen technology
Hydrogen is one of the keys to achieving long-term climate goals, even if it can only be obtained with a great deal of energy. In the short and medium term, however, the technology only has a chance if the state helps it with substantial sums and also offers a reliable framework for supply, distribution and application. It is therefore extremely good news that Hessen is becoming a pioneer in hydrogen technology in regional rail transport.
The expected 27 pollution-free regional trains, which will be used in the Taunus network of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) with the timetable change in December, will show what is feasible and make it possible to gain experience in dealing with the new fuel. Diesel locomotives still run on a third of all RMV routes because overhead lines are missing or not structurally possible. The alternatives are battery-powered trains on routes where there are only short catenary interruptions, or hydrogen trains, which with a range of 1000 kilometers are unrivaled on longer routes.
The 27 trains in the Taunus are hopefully just the beginning. The currently largest fleet of hydrogen trains in the world could make the potential of this environmentally friendly technology clear far beyond the Rhine-Main region.
